ReviewDie Anaesthesiologie2026
[Ethically challenging determination of treatment goals in the intensive care unit: reasons, frequency and possible solutions].
Review in Die Anaesthesiologie, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Modern intensive care medicine enables many patients to recover and return to normal life despite suffering from very severe acute illnesses. However, as intensive care patients are increasingly elderly and frail or suffer from advanced incurable chronic diseases, it is important to discuss the limits of intensive care medicine. Some medical interventions in the intensive care unit (ICU) may not support patients' individual therapeutic goals which are tailored to patients' conditions and in accordance with personal wishes. Such interventions can be experienced as ethically challenging by ICU staff and can be burdensome and stressful for patients and their relatives. This review paper discusses the issue of potentially inappropriate care in ICUs from the perspective of patients and their relatives, ICU staff and society. Possible reasons for the occurrence of potentially inappropriate treatment are identified and possible ways for avoidance are shown. The reasons for potentially inappropriate treatment are multifaceted and include patient-related and staff-related reasons. Treatment teams, patients and family members are facing numerous uncertainties concerning the patient's will and medical prognoses, e.g. possible future cognitive impairment. Structured communication and time-limited trials are possible strategies to avoid potentially inappropriate treatment, to explore patient wishes and decide upon individually tailored treatment strategies. It is indispensable to regularly re-evaluate therapeutic goals. Interprofessional support by palliative teams, psychologists, counselling and ethics advisory boards can be useful to improve patient-centered care. A structured approach is needed when deciding to withhold or withdraw care. There are a number of strategies that treatment teams in ICUs can implement to reduce the stress caused by potentially inappropriate care. Ultimately, however, a societal debate on the topic is indispensable.
Indexed as
Identifiers
41984165What 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.