SynthesisIntensive care medicine2021
Palliative care interventions in intensive care unit patients.
Synthesis in Intensive care medicine, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 43 papers, 3 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
43 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 100 citations in OpenAlex.
- Telehealth in palliative care settings: A systematic review of argument-based ethics literature.Palliative medicine · 2026Pooled it
- Implementing palliative care in the intensive care unit: a systematic review and mapping of knowledge to the implementation research logic model.Intensive care medicine · 2024Pooled it
- Assessing palliative care practices in intensive care units and interpreting them using the lens of appropriate care concepts. An umbrella review.Intensive care medicine · 2024Pooled it
- Mobile App-Facilitated Collaborative Palliative Care Intervention for Critically Ill Older Adults: A Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA internal medicine · 2025Trial
- End-Of-Life Care in a Cardiac Intensive Care Unit: A Retrospective Analysis of Interventions During the Last 48 Hours.Nursing in critical care · 2026Article
- Day-7 lactate-to-albumin ratio as a prognostic marker in sepsis patients requiring prolonged mechanical ventilation: a multicenter retrospective landmark analysis of the Korean Sepsis Alliance registry.Journal of thoracic disease · 2026Article
- Top Ten Tips Palliative Care Clinicians Should Know About Intensive Care Unit Consultation.Journal of palliative medicine · 2026Article
- Key characteristics of palliative care integration in intensive care units (ICUs): A scoping review.International journal of nursing studies advances · 2026Review
- Implementing palliative care in intensive care units: assessing processes using the normalisation process theory NoMAD instrument.Implementation science communications · 2026Article
- Article
- Advancing palliative care in cardiac arrest and cardiogenic shock: identifying evidence gaps and future research priorities.Frontiers in cardiovascular medicine · 2026Review
- Foundational principles for young intensivists to drive better outcomes: palliative care.Critical care science · 2026Article
- Development and validation of a prediction score for early identification of palliative care needs for patients in the intensive care unit: a multicentre retrospective cohort study.EClinicalMedicine · 2025Article
- Identifying clusters of healthcare expenditure trajectories in end-stage organ disease: a retrospective cohort study using linked administrative databases in Singapore.BMC health services research · 2025Article
- Early Detection of Palliative Care Needs in Critically Ill Patients Using the NECPAL Tool.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Article
- Intensive care clinicians' experiences of palliative withdrawal of mechanical ventilation: a qualitative study.BMJ open · 2025Article
- Bridging the gap: implementing ESICM end-of-life care guidelines in resource-limited settings.Intensive care medicine · 2025Article
- Contribution of dental treatment to reducing mortality in the ICUs: a 6-year retrospective analysis.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Critical care nurses' experiences of ethical challenges in end-of-life care.Nursing ethics · 2025Article
- The Real-World Effect of Early Screening for Palliative Care Criteria in a Medical Intensive Care Unit: An Instrumental Variable Analysis.Annals of the American Thoracic Society · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
11 authors at 9 institutions in 6 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeThe integration of palliative care into intensive care units (ICUs) is advocated to mitigate physical and psychological burdens for patients and their families, and to improve end-of-life care. The most efficacious palliative care interventions, the optimal model of their delivery and the most appropriate outcome measures in ICU are not clear.
methodsWe conducted a systematic review of randomised clinical trials and observational studies to evaluate the number and types of palliative care interventions implemented within the ICU setting, to assess their impact on ICU practice and to evaluate differences in palliative care approaches across different countries.
resultsFifty-eight full articles were identified, including 9 randomised trials and 49 cohort studies; all but 4 were conducted within North America. Interventions were categorised into five themes: communication (14, 24.6%), ethics consultations (5, 8.8%), educational (18, 31.6%), involvement of a palliative care team (28, 49.1%) and advance care planning or goals-of-care discussions (7, 12.3%). Thirty studies (51.7%) proposed an integrative model, whilst 28 (48.3%) reported a consultative one. The most frequently reported outcomes were ICU or hospital length of stay (33/55, 60%), limitation of life-sustaining treatment decisions (22/55, 40%) and mortality (15/55, 27.2%). Quantitative assessment of pooled data was not performed due to heterogeneity in interventions and outcomes between studies.
conclusionBeneficial effects on the most common outcomes were associated with strategies to enhance palliative care involvement, either with an integrative or a consultative approach. Few studies reported functional outcomes for ICU patients. Almost all studies were from North America, limiting the generalisability to other healthcare systems.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.