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- Title
End-of-life practices in a tertiary intensive care unit in Saudi Arabia.
- Authors
Aldawood AS; Alsultan M; Arabi YM; Baharoon SA; Al-Qahtani S; Haddad SH; Al-Dorzi HM; Jahdali HA; Alatassi A; Rishu AH; Aldawood, Abdulaziz S; Alsultan, Mohammad; Arabi, Yaseen M; Baharoon, Salim A; Al-Qahtani, S; Al-Qahtani, M; Haddad, Samir H; Al-Dorzi, Hasan M; Al-Jahdali, Hamdan; Jahdali, Hamdan A
- Abstract
Our aim was to evaluate end-of-life practices in a tertiary intensive care unit in Saudi Arabia. A prospective observational study was conducted in the medical-surgical intensive care unit of a teaching hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Over the course of the one-year study period, 176 patients died and 77% of these deaths were preceded by end-of-life decisions. Of these, 66% made do-not-resuscitate decisions, 30% decided to withhold life support and 4% withdrew life support. These decisions were made after a median time of four days (Q1 to Q3: 1 to 9) and at least one day before death (Q1 to Q3: 1 to 4). The patients' families or surrogates were informed for 88% of the decisions and all decisions were documented in the patients' medical records. Despite religious and cultural values, more than three-quarters of the patients whose deaths were preceded by end-of-life decisions gave do-not-resuscitate decisions before death. These decisions should be made early in the patients' stay in the intensive care unit.
- Publication
Anaesthesia & Intensive Care, 2012, Vol 40, Issue 1, p137
- ISSN
0310-057X
- Publication type
journal article
- DOI
10.1177/0310057x1204000116