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End-of-life Practices in 2019 vs. 2014

NCT04078815 · Status: COMPLETED · Type: OBSERVATIONAL · Enrollment: 84

Last updated 2020-03-24

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

In 2014, the authors conducted a survey of key opinion leaders on ethical resuscitation practices in 31 European Countries. The authors administered a comprehensive questionnaire to 1-2 "experts" from each country; subjectivity-related bias could not be excluded; however, the questionnaire was actually administered twice over a 6-month period to all participants, in order to confirm results' reproducibility. The questionnaire spanned across the following 4 domains: A: ethical practices (41 questions); B: access to best available care (39 questions); C: death diagnosis and organ donation (22 questions); and D: emergency care organization (40 questions). Accordingly, a 142-point scoring system of the responses of the participants was developed. Country-specific scores varied widely \[e.g. score range of 1-41 for the ethical practices (domain A), and of 9-32 for emergency care organization (domain D)\]. The authors also found a significant association between domain A and domain D scores (r2 = 0.42, P \< 0.001).

The results of the 2014 survey highlighted variability across European countries in their approach to the ethics of resuscitation/end-of-life care. Results also indicated the presence of substantial need for improvements in all the aforementioned domains of practice and emergency care organization On the other hand, such evolution should be substantially augmented and accelerated by the above-described combination of new guidelines, RCT-based support of ACP, legislation / governmental policies, and educational activities.

With this study the authors undertake a methodologically improved version of the 2014 survey, in order to test the following hypotheses: 1) compared to 2014, there may be significant improvements in overall domain A to D scores for 2019, reflecting improved quality of ethical practice in the field of resuscitation/end-of-life care; 2) such progress, may be more marked in countries with "low" (i.e. below-average) domain A to D scores for 2014.

Conditions

  • Terminal Illness
  • Heart Arrest
  • Ethics, Narrative

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • University of Athens

    lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

  • Leo Bossaert, MD, PHD, Professor · Universiteit Antwerpen

Eligibility

Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2019-09-03
Primary Completion
2020-01-31
Completion
2020-01-31

Countries

  • Belgium
  • Greece

Study Locations

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Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT04078815 on ClinicalTrials.gov