Approaches to EOL Decision-making For Patients Affected by Sepsis and ARDS

journals.lww.com January 21, 2020

A Qualitative Study of Patients With Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) and Sepsis and Their Surrogates.

The purpose of this study was to develop hypotheses of patient and surrogate’s rationale for decision-making.

Patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) or sepsis and their surrogates were followed.

14 patients and 28 surrogates were given semistructured interviews while in the ICU and again 30 days later. The interviews focused on goal outcomes for the ICU stay and why a patient or surrogate would want a specific intervention.

Interviews were analyzed using grounded theory and the constant comparative method on NVivo 10.0.

This study was able to identify four typologies, or approaches, to end-of-life decision-making through interviewing patients and caregivers who have been affected by sepsis/ARDS diagnosis.