ArticleJournal of the American Geriatrics Society2025
The ICU Care Plan: Human-Centered Design of a Tool to Support Time-Limited Trials for Older Adults With Critical Illness.
Article in Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
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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.
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Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- The ICU Care Plan: Human-Centered Design of a Tool to Support Time-Limited Trials for Older Adults With Critical Illness.Journal of the American Geriatrics Society · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
13 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundFor older adults with critical illness, decisions about life-sustaining therapies can be challenging. A time-limited trial (TLT) is a collaborative care plan endorsed by experts in palliative and critical care to help navigate these challenges. TLTs entail trying life-sustaining therapy for a defined duration. Response to treatment then informs whether to continue recovery-directed care or shift focus exclusively to comfort. TLTs require collaboration among clinicians, patients, and/or surrogate decision makers, yet there is little practical guidance on how to accomplish this. Thus, we sought to design a collaborative TLT planning tool and characterize its valued characteristics.
methodsIn this qualitative study framed by human-centered Design Thinking, we conducted a series of semi-structured interviews (n = 25) and focus groups (n = 5) with 28 participants who were (1) older adults (age ≥ 65) with serious illness, (2) adults of any age with surrogate decision-making experience for an older adult, and/or (3) intensive care unit (ICU) physicians. We purposively sampled across a Midwestern state to achieve diverse representation and used the Rigorous and Accelerated Data Reduction (RADaR) technique for qualitative analysis.
resultsWe used participants' input to design the ICU Care Plan, a paper-based tool consisting of a fillable template. The tool is designed to guide a collaborative TLT planning conversation among clinicians, patients, and surrogates and then serve as a visual summary of the care plan. Participants endorsed the tool as (1) creating a unified frame of reference for a complex process; (2) promoting transparency; and (3) setting and managing expectations. The tool exemplifies participants' design priorities of simplicity and flexibility.
conclusionsWe used a human-centered design process to develop a tool for in-the-moment TLT planning that is endorsed by older adults, surrogates, and ICU physicians. Low technology, intentionally simple interventions are a promising approach to promote patient- and family-centered collaboration.
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Registered trials
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