Two distinct Do-Not-Resuscitate protocols leaving less to the imagination: an observational study using propensity score matching

Chen, Yen-Yuan; Gordon, Nahida H; Connors, Alfred F; Garland, Allan; Chang, Shan-Chwen; Youngner, Stuart J

Two distinct Do-Not-Resuscitate protocols leaving less to the imagination: an observational study using propensity score matching

dc.contributor.author	Chen, Yen-Yuan
dc.contributor.author	Gordon, Nahida H
dc.contributor.author	Connors, Alfred F
dc.contributor.author	Garland, Allan
dc.contributor.author	Chang, Shan-Chwen
dc.contributor.author	Youngner, Stuart J
dc.date.accessioned	2014-09-05T19:03:04Z
dc.date.available	2014-09-05T19:03:04Z
dc.date.issued	2014-08-29
dc.date.updated	2014-09-05T19:03:05Z
dc.description.abstract	Abstract Background Do-Not-Resuscitate (DNR) patients tend to receive less medical care after the order is written. To provide a clearer approach, the Ohio Department of Health adopted the Do-Not-Resuscitate law in 1998, indicating two distinct protocols of DNR orders that allow DNR patients to choose the medical care: DNR Comfort Care (DNRCC), implying DNRCC patients receive only comfort care after the order is written; and DNR Comfort Care-Arrest (DNRCC-Arrest), implying that DNRCC-Arrest patients are eligible to receive aggressive interventions until cardiac or respiratory arrest. The aim of this study was to examine the medical care provided to patients with these two distinct protocols of DNR orders. Methods Data were collected from August 2002 to December 2005 at a medical intensive care unit in a university-affiliated teaching hospital. In total, 188 DNRCC-Arrest patients, 88 DNRCC patients, and 2,051 non-DNR patients were included. Propensity score matching using multivariate logistic regression was used to balance the confounding variables between the 188 DNRCC-Arrest and 2,051 non-DNR patients, and between the 88 DNRCC and 2,051 non-DNR patients. The daily cost of intensive care unit (ICU) stay, the daily cost of hospital stay, the daily discretionary cost of ICU stay, six aggressive interventions, and three comfort care measures were used to indicate the medical care patients received. The association of each continuous variable and categorical variable with having a DNR order written was analyzed using Student’s t-test and the χ2 test, respectively. The six aggressive interventions and three comfort care measures performed before and after the order was initiated were compared using McNemar’s test. Results DNRCC patients received significantly fewer aggressive interventions and more comfort care after the order was initiated. By contrast, for DNRCC-Arrest patients, the six aggressive interventions provided were not significantly decreased, but the three comfort care measures were significantly increased after the order was initiated. In addition, the three medical costs were not significantly different between DNRCC and non-DNR patients, or between DNRCC-Arrest and non-DNR patients. Conclusions When medical care provided to DNR patients is clearly indicated, healthcare professionals will provide the medical care determined by patient/surrogate decision-makers and healthcare professionals, rather than blindly decreasing medical care.
dc.description.version	Peer Reviewed
dc.identifier.citation	BMC Medicine. 2014 Aug 29;12(1):146
dc.identifier.doi	http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12916-014-0146-x
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/1993/23981
dc.language.rfc3066	en
dc.rights	open access	en_US
dc.rights.holder	Yen-Yuan Chen et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.
dc.title	Two distinct Do-Not-Resuscitate protocols leaving less to the imagination: an observational study using propensity score matching
dc.type	Journal Article