Knowledge about end-of-life decisions by Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine Specialists
Keywords:
end of life decisions, do not resuscitate, withholding, withdrawalAbstract
Introduction: a new Public Health Law was passed in Cuba that dedicates a space to end-of-life decisions. This topic should be made known to Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine Specialists in order to make decisions tailored to the specific context of critically ill patients.
Objective: to conduct an institutional doctoral project at the Arnaldo Milián Castro Hospital on end-of-life decisions in the Intensive Care Unit.
Methods: a descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted at the Arnaldo Milián Castro Hospital in Villa Clara Province during the second half of 2024. Nineteen Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine specialists from different Cuban hospitals were studied. Informed consent was obtained during their participation in various scientific and academic events, and information was collected through a questionnaire.
Results: professionals from four Cuban provinces, seven hospitals in Havana, two in Villa Clara, one in Cienfuegos, and one in Ciego de Ávila participated. The average age was 53.5 years, and they had practiced their specialty for 19.7 years. All worked in intensive care patient care; nine held Master's degrees in Science and three held PhDs in Science, and 17 held teaching positions. All agreed with end-of-life decision-making. In the questionnaire, nine correctly marked all three decisions; only three selected euthanasia as one of its forms, and ten indicated the existence of all three preconditions.
Conclusions: despite the agreement among Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine Specialists on end-of-life decision-making, there was no uniformity in identifying these decisions or the preconditions required for their implementation.
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References
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15 junio 2025
