Variation in end-of-life decision making between critical care consultants.
Considerable variation in end-of-life decision making is reported between intensive care units in the United Kingdom, possibly because of differences in casemix. Senior medical staff within any one unit should, however, be consistent in such decision making. We reviewed the medical records for a 4-year period to establish if there was consistency in our own unit. This revealed considerable variation in the apparent willingness of consultants to make end-of-life decisions, emphasising the subjective nature of these decisions. Personality typing (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator) of consultants revealed that those who had made more than the expected number of decisions had scores towards the judging end of the judging/perceiving domain.
Poulton
B
B
Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, Colney Lane, Norwich, NR4 7UY, UK. brodyn.poulton@shb.shetland.scot.nhs.uk
Ridley
S
S
Mackenzie-Ross
R
R
Rizvi
S
S
D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003253:Consultants / Q000523:psychology; D003422:Critical Care / Q000523:psychology*; D003657:Decision Making; D004739:England; D005066:Euthanasia, Passive / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017052:Hospital Mortality; D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008505:Medical Staff, Hospital / Q000523:psychology*; D010552:Personality Assessment