Shared Decision Making in ICUs

Publication Date: January 3, 2016
Last Updated: October 5, 2022

Summary

Table 1. Examples of Preference-Sensitive Decisions in ICUs

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  1. Whether to undergo decompressive hemicraniectomy vs medical treatment in a patient with severe stroke and cerebral swelling
  2. Whether to convert a child from conventional mechanical ventilation to high-frequency ventilation, which might decrease the risk of morbidity or mortality but which would necessitate deep sedation making it impossible for the child and his/her family to communicate
  3. Whether to pursue ongoing weaning efforts at ventilator facility or transition to palliative therapy for a patient with advanced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease who has failed several attempts at ventilator weaning in the ICU
  4. Whether a patient’s quality of life is sufficiently satisfying that he/she would want life-sustaining treatment when a life-threatening event occurs
  5. Whether to attempt resuscitation in the delivery room and provide subsequent neonatal critical care to an extremely premature infant at the threshold of viability
  6. Whether to pursue a risky neurosurgical procedure to attempt to cure a child’s seizures vs continuing to treat with medications that may be impairing his/her performance in school
  7. Whether to proceed with palliative surgical procedures in an infant with complex congenital heart disease

Overview

Title

Shared Decision Making in ICUs

Authoring Organizations

American Thoracic Society

Society of Critical Care Medicine