PurposeWhether the quality of the ethical climate in the intensive care unit (ICU) improves the identification of patients receiving excessive care and affects patient outcomes is unknown.MethodsIn this prospective observational study, perceptions of excessive care (PECs) by clinicians working in 68 ICUs in Europe and the USA were collected daily during a 28-day period. The quality of the ethical climate in the ICUs was assessed via a validated questionnaire. We compared the combined endpoint (death, not at home or poor quality of life at 1 year) of patients with PECs and the time from PECs until written treatment-limitation decisions (TLDs) and death across the four climates defined via cluster analysis.ResultsOf the 4747 eligible clinicians, 2992 (63%) evaluated the ethical climate in their ICU. Of the 321 and 623 patients not admitted for monitoring only in ICUs with a good (n = 12, 18%) and poor (n = 24, 35%) climate, 36 (11%) and 74 (12%), respectively were identified with PECs by at least two clinicians. Of the 35 and 71 identified patients with an available combined endpoint, 100% (95% CI 90.0–1.00) and 85.9% (75.4–92.0) (P = 0.02) attained that endpoint. The risk of death (HR 1.88, 95% CI 1.20–2.92) or receiving a written TLD (HR 2.32, CI 1.11–4.85) in patients with PECs by at least two clinicians was higher in ICUs with a good climate than in those with a poor one. The differences between ICUs with an average climate, with (n = 12, 18%) or without (n = 20, 29%) nursing involvement at the end of life, and ICUs with a poor climate were less obvious but still in favour of the former.ConclusionEnhancing the quality of the ethical climate in the ICU may improve both the identification of patients receiving excessive care and the decision-making process at the end of life.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s00134-018-5231-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The 32-item version of the EDMCQ might enrich the EDM climate measurement, clinicians' behaviour and the performance of healthcare organisations. This instrument offers opportunities to develop tailored ICU team interventions.

Purpose: Apart from organizational issues, quality of inter-professional collaboration during ethical decision-making may affect the intention to leave one's job. To determine whether ethical climate is associated with the intention to leave after adjustment for country, ICU and clinicians characteristics.Methods: Perceptions of the ethical climate among clinicians working in 68 adult ICUs in 12 European countries and the US were measured using a self-assessment questionnaire, together with job characteristics and intent to leave as a sub-analysis of the Dispropricus study. The validated ethical decision-making climate questionnaire included seven factors: not avoiding decision-making at end-of-life (EOL), mutual respect within the interdisciplinary team, open interdisciplinary reflection, ethical awareness, self-reflective physician leadership, active decision-making at end-of-life by physicians, and involvement of nurses in EOL. Hierarchical mixed effect models were used to assess associations between these factors, and the intent to leave in clinicians within ICUs, within the different countries.Results: Of 3610 nurses and 1137 physicians providing ICU bedside care, 63.1% and 62.9% participated, respectively. Of 2992 participating clinicians, 782 (26.1%) had intent to leave, of which 27% nurses, 24% junior and 22.7% senior physicians. After adjustment for country, ICU and clinicians characteristics, mutual respect OR 0.77 (95% CI 0.66-0.90), open interdisciplinary reflection (OR 0.73 [95% CI 0.62-0.86]) and not avoiding EOL decisions (OR 0.87 [95% CI 0.77-0.98]) were all associated with a lower intent to leave.

Objectives: To examine perceptions of nurses and physicians in regard to ethical decision-making climate in the ICU and to test the hypothesis that the worse the ethical decision-making climate, the greater the discordance between nurses’ and physicians’ rating of ethical decision-making climate with physicians hypothesized to rate the climate better than the nurses. Design: Prospective observational study. Setting: A total of 68 adult ICUs in 13 European countries and the United States. Subjects: ICU physicians and nurses. Interventions: None. Measurements and Main Results: Perceptions of ethical decision-making climate among clinicians were measured in April-May 2014, using a 35-items self-assessment questionnaire that evaluated seven factors (empowering leadership by physicians, interdisciplinary reflection, not avoiding end-of-life decisions, mutual respect within the interdisciplinary team, involvement of nurses in end-of-life care and decision-making, active decision-making by physicians, and ethical awareness). A total of 2,275 nurses and 717 physicians participated (response rate of 63%). Using cluster analysis, ICUs were categorized according to four ethical decision-making climates: good, average with nurses’ involvement at end-of-life, average without nurses’ involvement at end-of-life, and poor. Overall, physicians rated ethical decision-making climate more positively than nurses (p < 0.001 for all seven factors). Physicians had more positive perceptions of ethical decision-making climate than nurses in all 13 participating countries and in each individual participating ICU. Compared to ICUs with good or average ethical decision-making climates, ICUs with poor ethical decision-making climates had the greatest discordance between physicians and nurses. Although nurse/physician differences were found in all seven factors of ethical decision-making climate measurement, the factors with greatest discordance were regarding physician leadership, interdisciplinary reflection, and not avoiding end-of-life decisions. Conclusions: Physicians consistently perceived ICU ethical decision-making climate more positively than nurses. ICUs with poor ethical decision-making climates had the largest discrepancies.

This article describes a study that evaluated the quality of teamwork in a surgical intensive care unit and assessed whether teamwork could be improved significantly through a tailor-made intervention. The quality of teamwork prior to and after the intervention was assessed using the Interprofessional Practice and Education Quality Scales (IPEQS) using the PROSE online diagnostics and documenting system, which assesses three domains of teamwork: organisational factors, care processes, and team members' attitudes and beliefs. Furthermore, team members evaluated strengths and weaknesses of the teamwork through open-ended questions. Information gathered by means of the open questions was used to design a tailor-made 12-week intervention consisting of (1) optimising the existing weekly interdisciplinary meetings with collaborative decision-making and clear communication of goal-oriented actions, including the psychosocial aspects of care; and (2) organising and supporting the effective exchange of information over time between all professions involved. It was found that the intervention had a significant impact on organisational factors and care processes related to interprofessional teamwork for the total group and within all subgroups, despite baseline differences between the subgroups in interprofessional teamwork. In conclusion, teamwork, and more particularly the organisational aspects of interprofessional collaboration and processes of care, can be improved by a tailor-made intervention that takes into account the professional needs of healthcare workers.

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