학술논문
Experiences and attitudes of medical professionals on treatment of end-of-life patients in intensive care units in the Republic of Croatia: a cross-sectional study
Document Type
article
Author
Diana Špoljar; Marinko Vučić; Jasminka Peršec; Vlasta Merc; Tatjana Kereš; Radovan Radonić; Zdravka Poljaković; Višnja Nesek Adam; Nenad Karanović; Krešimir Čaljkušić; Željko Župan; Igor Grubješić; Jasminka Kopić; Srđan Vranković; Renata Krobot; Bojana Nevajdić; Mia Golubić; Štefan Grosek; Mirjana Kujundžić Tiljak; Andrija Štajduhar; Dinko Tonković; Ana Borovečki
Source
BMC Medical Ethics, Vol 23, Iss 1, Pp 1-13 (2022)
Subject
Language
English
ISSN
1472-6939
Abstract
Abstract Background Decisions about limitations of life sustaining treatments (LST) are made for end-of-life patients in intensive care units (ICUs). The aim of this research was to explore the professional and ethical attitudes and experiences of medical professionals on treatment of end-of-life patients in ICUs in the Republic of Croatia. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted among physicians and nurses working in surgical, medical, neurological, and multidisciplinary ICUs in the total of 9 hospitals throughout Croatia using a questionnaire with closed and open type questions. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted to reduce data to a smaller set of summary variables. Mann–Whitney U test was used to analyse the differences between two groups and Kruskal–Wallis tests were used to analyse the differences between more than two groups. Results Less than third of participants (29.2%) stated they were included in the decision-making process, and physicians are much more included than nurses (p