The Perspectives of Families in Decision-Making Conflicts Related to Palliative Care Patients With Mechanical Ventilation in Taiwan.
Shou-Yu Wang, Li-Wei Lin, Jiun-Long Wang and 1 others
PMID 40349186WHAT IT FOUND
Among 127 family members of ventilator-dependent patients, 61.4% reported conflict about palliative care decisions.
The strongest links were patients having no other chronic illness, family being unable to accept palliative care, and hesitation. This describes family distress, not an intervention effect.
Key findings
0178 family members (61.4%) had palliative care decision-making conflict, with a mean score of 2.59 (SD 0.50), above the 2.5 cutoff.
02The highest subscale score was uncertainty about the contents of palliative care (2.93, SD 0.63).
03Family conflict was associated with patients having no other chronic comorbidities (OR 5.11), family being unable to accept palliative care on behalf of the patient (OR 4.77), and family hesitation (OR 6.64).
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The study was done in a single medical center in Taiwan, so it may not represent other hospitals or countries. It used convenience sampling and was cross-sectional, so it cannot show that any factor causes conflict. It surveyed family members only, not patients or health professionals, and did not include qualitative interviews. Recruitment took more than 1.5 years, partly because regional hospitals did not participate and pandemic visiting restrictions made recruitment difficult.
Declared interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest and received no financial support for the work.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the odds ratios as proof that family conferences or better information reduce conflict. This was a cross-sectional survey, so it measured associations at one time point and did not test an intervention.