Citation

Sands R, Manning JC, Vyas H, Rashid A. Nurs. Crit. Care 2009; 14(5): 235-240.

Affiliation

MRCPCH, Paediatric Specialist Registrar, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, Queen's Medical Centre Campus, Derby Road, Nottingham, UK.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, British Association of Critical Care Nurses, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1478-5153.2009.00348.x

PMID

19706074

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To describe the patient mortality over a 10-year period in a paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) including patient demographics, length of stay, cause and mode of death and to compare these findings with pre-existing literature from the western world. DESIGN: A retrospective chart review. SETTING: A UK tertiary PICU. PATIENTS: All children who died in the PICU over a 10-year period between 1 November 1997 and 31 October 2007 (n = 204). INTERVENTIONS: None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Data recorded for each patient included patient demographics, length of stay and cause of death according to the International Classification of Disease-10 classification, and mode of death. Mode of death was assigned for each patient by placement in one of four categories: (i) brain death (BD), (ii) managed withdrawal of life-sustaining medical therapy (MWLSMT), (iii) failed cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and (iv) limitation of treatment (LT). Over the study period, findings showed a median length of stay of 2 days (IQR 0-5 days), with a mortality rate of 5%. The most common mode of death was MWLSMT (n = 112, 54.9%) and this was consistent across the 10-year period. Linear regression analysis demonstrated no significant change in trend over the 10 years in each of the modes of death; BD (p = 0.84), MWLSMT (p = 0.88), CPR (p = 0.35) and LT (p = 0.67). CONCLUSION: End-of-life care is an important facet of paediatric intensive nursing/medicine. Ten years on from the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health publication 'Withholding or withdrawing life sustaining treatment in children: A framework for practice', this study found managed withdrawal of MWLSMT to be the most commonly practised mode of death in a tertiary PICU, and this was consistent over the study period.

Language: en