Pediatr Crit Care Me
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Pediatr Crit Care Me · Aug 2018
Ethical, Cultural, Social, and Individual Considerations Prior to Transition to Limitation or Withdrawal of Life-Sustaining Therapies.
As part of the invited supplement on Death and Dying in the PICU, we reviewed ethical, cultural, and social considerations for the bedside healthcare practitioner prior to engaging with children and families in decisions about limiting therapies, withholding, or withdrawing therapies in a PICU. Clarifying beliefs and values is a necessary prerequisite to approaching these conversations. Striving for medical consensus is important. ⋯ Engaging additional supportive services early can aid with understanding or resolving disagreement. There is wide variation globally in ethical permissibility, cultural, and societal influences that impact the clinician, child, and parents. Thoughtful consideration to these issues when approaching decisions about limitation or withdrawal of life-sustaining therapies will help to reduce emotional, spiritual, and ethical burdens, minimize misunderstanding for all involved, and maximize high-quality care delivery.
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To describe individual perspective over ~30 years in a PICU in Cape Town, South Africa. ⋯ Narrative, experiential reflection.
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Pediatr Crit Care Me · Aug 2018
Death and Dying in the ICU: Personal Reflection of 30 Years' Experience.
To describe individual perspective over ~30 years in a mixed Cardiac and General ICU, which includes the State Trauma Center, National Cardiac Transplant and Complex Cardiac Center, Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation Center, Home Ventilation Program, and the major PICU for 6 million people. ⋯ I have agreed to palliative care in many patients of diverse religious, social, and cultural beliefs while providing long-term ICU care to other patients with similar illnesses and prognosis. This can occur when family meetings allow honest and direct conversation with respect for differences; as a clinician, I listen to a family and understand their perspectives and together develop a clear and agreed plan.
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Pediatr Crit Care Me · Aug 2018
Death and Dying 1987-2017: The Destination Is the Same, the Journey Is Different.
A personal reflection on the changing landscape with regard to case mix, care, and staffing and how mortality and expectations have evolved over the past 30 years in a multidisciplinary Pediatric Critical Care Unit in a Quaternary level academic institution in Canada. ⋯ Many of the preventable deaths have been prevented with Public Health initiatives. Death now is increasingly in complex patients with complicated treatment regimes in a society that has increasingly unrealistic expectations of what modern medicine can do. Many of these complex children do not die but are dependent on our technology and skill set-something we are often ill prepared for.