ArticleThe American journal of hospice & palliative care2019
Association of Perceived Futile or Potentially Inappropriate Care With Burnout and Thoughts of Quitting Among Health-Care Providers.
Article in The American journal of hospice & palliative care, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 25 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
25 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Psychological Determinants of Physician Variation in End-of-Life Treatment Intensity: A Systematic Review and Meta-Synthesis.Journal of general internal medicine · 2023Pooled it
- A systematic review defining non-beneficial and inappropriate end-of-life treatment in patients with non-cancer diagnoses: theoretical development for multi-stakeholder intervention design in acute care settings.BMC palliative care · 2022Pooled it
- Medical overuse of therapies and diagnostics in rheumatology.Clinical rheumatology · 2021Pooled it
- Pooled it
- STOPTHEBURN: A Randomized Controlled Trial of Death Cafés for Burnout Prevention in Intensive Care Unit Employees.Annals of the American Thoracic Society · 2024Trial
- Artificial intelligence and medical futility.BMC medical informatics and decision making · 2026Review
- Clinical and Ethical Approaches to Medical Futility in End-of-Life Care: A Scoping Review.Cureus · 2026Review
- A Conceptual Analysis of Psychological Burnout Among Nurses Providing Terminal Care.Journal of advanced nursing · 2026Review
- Observational
- Perception of futile care and the reasons behind providing it for the patients at end-of-life stages from the care providers' perspective.Philosophy, ethics, and humanities in medicine : PEHM · 2025Article
- Preferences for life-sustaining treatments in advance decisions: a cross-sectional survey of Taiwanese general public.BMC medical ethics · 2025Article
- Relationship of intensive care unit nurses' attitudes towards futile treatment with compassion fatigue and turnover intention.Nursing in critical care · 2025Article
- Normative Perceptions and Medical Providers' Help-Seeking Behavior in a Rural Health Setting.Journal of clinical psychology in medical settings · 2024Article
- Associations Between Supervisory Alliance, Medical Resident Distress, Burnout, and Self-Esteem.Advances in medical education and practice · 2024Article
- Perceived potentially inappropriate treatment in the PICU: frequency, contributing factors and the distress it triggers.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2024Article
- Quantitative futility in emergency laparotomy: an exploration of early-postoperative death in the National Emergency Laparotomy Audit.Techniques in coloproctology · 2023Article
- Advance care planning (ACP) to promote receipt of value-concordant care: Results vary according to patient priorities.PloS one · 2023Article
- The virtual uncertainty of futility in emergency surgery.The British journal of surgery · 2022Article
- The false dichotomy of surgical futility in the emergency laparotomy setting: scoping review.BJS open · 2022Article
- Covid-19 and Increased Risk of Physician Suicide: A Call to Detoxify the U.S. Medical System.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundFutile or potentially inappropriate care (futile/PIC) has been suggested as a factor contributing to clinician well-being; however, little is known about this association.
objectiveTo determine whether futile/PIC provision is associated with measures of clinician well-being.
designCross-sectional, self-administered, online questionnaire.
settingTwo New York City Hospitals.
participantsAttending physicians, residents, nurses, and physician assistants in the fields of internal medicine, surgery, neurology, or intensive care. EXPOSURE(S): Provision of perceived futile/PIC. MEASUREMENTS: Main outcomes included (1) clinician burnout, measured using the Physician Worklife Study screen; (2) clinician depression, measured using the Patient Health Questionnaire; and (3) intention to quit, measured using questions assessing thoughts of quitting and how seriously it is being considered.
resultsOf 1784 clinicians who received surveys, 349 participated. Across all clinicians, 91% reported that they either had or had possibly provided futile/PIC to a patient. Overall, 43.4% of clinicians screened positive for burnout syndrome, 7.8% screened positive for depression, and 35.5% reported thoughts of leaving their job as a result of futile/PIC. The amount of perceived futile/PIC provided was associated with burnout (odds ratio [OR] 3.8 [16-30 patients vs 1-2 patients]; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.1-12.8) and having thoughts of quitting (OR, 7.4 [16-30 patients vs 1-2 patients]; 95% CI: 2.0-27), independent of depression, position, department, and the number of dying patients cared for.
conclusionsA large majority of clinicians report providing futile/PIC, and such care is associated with measures of clinician well-being, including burnout and intention to quit.
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Registered trials
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.