ArticleJournal of general internal medicine2001
Conflict associated with decisions to limit life-sustaining treatment in intensive care units.
Article in Journal of general internal medicine, 2001. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 106 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
106 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Characteristics and Effectiveness of Nurse-Led Family Communication Interventions in the ICU: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Critical care medicine · 2026Pooled it
- "Everything has been tried and his heart can't recover…": A Descriptive Review of "Do Everything!" in the Archive of Ontario Consent and Capacity Board.BMC medical ethics · 2022Pooled it
- Association of Surrogate Decision-making Interventions for Critically Ill Adults With Patient, Family, and Resource Use Outcomes: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.JAMA network open · 2019Pooled it
- Expressions of conflict following postoperative complications in older adults having major surgery.American journal of surgery · 2021Trial
- The Family Navigator: A Pilot Intervention to Support Intensive Care Unit Family Surrogates.American journal of critical care : an official publication, American Association of Critical-Care Nurses · 2016Trial
- Using Nurse Ratings of Physician Communication in the ICU To Identify Potential Targets for Interventions To Improve End-of-Life Care.Journal of palliative medicine · 2016Trial
- Clinicians' perceptions of the usefulness of a communication facilitator in the intensive care unit.American journal of critical care : an official publication, American Association of Critical-Care Nurses · 2014Trial
- Development and evaluation of an interprofessional communication intervention to improve family outcomes in the ICU.Contemporary clinical trials · 2012Trial
- ICU toolbox: negotiation skills for family conversations in the ICU.Intensive care medicine · 2026Article
- Article
- Effects of awareness of person-centered care, knowledge of life-sustaining treatment decisions, and attitudes toward advance directives on end-of-life care competency among nurses in long-term care hospitals: A cross-sectional study.Journal of Korean gerontological nursing · 2026Article
- Surrogate Wars: The "Best Interest Values" Hierarchy & End-of-Life Conflicts with Surrogate Decision-Makers.HEC forum : an interdisciplinary journal on hospitals' ethical and legal issues · 2025Article
- Understanding and addressing a 'difficult' family in ICU.Critical care (London, England) · 2025Review
- A Case Series of Patients With Complex Airway Disease and Large Thyroid Tumors Anterior to the Trachea Precluding Tracheostomy.Critical care explorations · 2024Article
- Shared Decision-making in Palliative and End-of-life Care in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit.US cardiology · 2024Review
- Palliative Care in Severe Neurotrauma Patients in the Intensive Care Unit.Neurocritical care · 2023Article
- Ethical issues encountered by French intensive care unit caregivers during the first COVID-19 outbreak.Canadian journal of anaesthesia = Journal canadien d'anesthesie · 2023Article
- Knowledge, Attitudes and Nursing Stress Related to Life-Sustaining Treatment among Oncology Nurses.Journal of hospice and palliative care · 2023Article
- Team-family conflicts over end-of-life decisions in ICU: A survey of French physicians' beliefs.PloS one · 2023Article
- Interpersonal Perception: Family- and Physician-reported Conflict in the Intensive Care Unit.Annals of the American Thoracic Society · 2022Article
46 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo determine the incidence and nature of interpersonal conflicts that arise when patients in the intensive care unit are considered for limitation of life-sustaining treatment.
designQualitative analysis of prospectively gathered interviews.
settingSix intensive care units at a university medical center.
participantsFour hundred six physicians and nurses who were involved in the care of 102 patients for whom withdrawal or withholding of treatment was considered. MEASUREMENTS: Semistructured interviews addressed disagreements during life-sustaining treatment decision making. Two raters coded transcripts of the audiotaped interviews. MAIN
resultsAt least 1 health care provider in 78% of the cases described a situation coded as conflict. Conflict occurred between the staff and family members in 48% of the cases, among staff members in 48%, and among family members in 24%. In 63% of the cases, conflict arose over the decision about life-sustaining treatment itself. In 45% of the cases, conflict occurred over other tasks such as communication and pain control. Social issues caused conflict in 19% of the cases.
conclusionsConflict is more prevalent in the setting of intensive care decision making than has previously been demonstrated. While conflict over the treatment decision itself is most common, conflict over other issues, including social issues, is also significant. By identifying conflict and by recognizing that the treatment decision may not be the only conflict present, or even the main one, clinicians may address conflict more constructively.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.