Balancing professional tension and deciding upon the status of death: Making end-of-life decisions in intensive care units

This study investigated how intensivists make decisions regarding withholding and withdrawing treatment for patients at the end of their lives. This involved completing in-depth interviews from two sites of the South of England, United Kingdom by twelve intensivists. The data collected by these inte...

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Main Authors:	Emmanouela Konstantara, Tushna Vandrevala, Anna Cox, Benedict C Creagh-Brown, Jane Ogden
Format:	Article
Language:	English
Published:	SAGE Publishing 2016-01-01
Series:	Health Psychology Open
Online Access:	https://doi.org/10.1177/2055102915622928

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spelling	doaj-3cfb2b477b51492192681e3b66de2eac2020-11-25T02:46:39ZengSAGE PublishingHealth Psychology Open2055-10292016-01-01310.1177/205510291562292810.1177_2055102915622928Balancing professional tension and deciding upon the status of death: Making end-of-life decisions in intensive care unitsEmmanouela Konstantara0Tushna Vandrevala1Anna Cox2Benedict C Creagh-Brown3Jane Ogden4University of Surrey, UKKingston University, UKUniversity of Surrey, UKUniversity of Surrey, UKUniversity of Surrey, UKThis study investigated how intensivists make decisions regarding withholding and withdrawing treatment for patients at the end of their lives. This involved completing in-depth interviews from two sites of the South of England, United Kingdom by twelve intensivists. The data collected by these intensivists were analysed using thematic analysis. This resulted in the identification of three themes: intensivists’ role, treatment effectiveness, and patients’ best interest. Transcending these were two overarching themes relating to the balance between quantity and quality of life, and the intensivists’ sense of responsibility versus burden. The results are considered in terms of making sense of death and the role of beliefs in the decision-making process.https://doi.org/10.1177/2055102915622928
collection	DOAJ
language	English
format	Article
sources	DOAJ
author	Emmanouela Konstantara Tushna Vandrevala Anna Cox Benedict C Creagh-Brown Jane Ogden
spellingShingle	Emmanouela Konstantara Tushna Vandrevala Anna Cox Benedict C Creagh-Brown Jane Ogden Balancing professional tension and deciding upon the status of death: Making end-of-life decisions in intensive care units Health Psychology Open
author_facet	Emmanouela Konstantara Tushna Vandrevala Anna Cox Benedict C Creagh-Brown Jane Ogden
author_sort	Emmanouela Konstantara
title	Balancing professional tension and deciding upon the status of death: Making end-of-life decisions in intensive care units
title_short	Balancing professional tension and deciding upon the status of death: Making end-of-life decisions in intensive care units
title_full	Balancing professional tension and deciding upon the status of death: Making end-of-life decisions in intensive care units
title_fullStr	Balancing professional tension and deciding upon the status of death: Making end-of-life decisions in intensive care units
title_full_unstemmed	Balancing professional tension and deciding upon the status of death: Making end-of-life decisions in intensive care units
title_sort	balancing professional tension and deciding upon the status of death: making end-of-life decisions in intensive care units
publisher	SAGE Publishing
series	Health Psychology Open
issn	2055-1029
publishDate	2016-01-01
description	This study investigated how intensivists make decisions regarding withholding and withdrawing treatment for patients at the end of their lives. This involved completing in-depth interviews from two sites of the South of England, United Kingdom by twelve intensivists. The data collected by these intensivists were analysed using thematic analysis. This resulted in the identification of three themes: intensivists’ role, treatment effectiveness, and patients’ best interest. Transcending these were two overarching themes relating to the balance between quantity and quality of life, and the intensivists’ sense of responsibility versus burden. The results are considered in terms of making sense of death and the role of beliefs in the decision-making process.
url	https://doi.org/10.1177/2055102915622928
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Balancing professional tension and deciding upon the status of death: Making end-of-life decisions in intensive care units

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