Quality of Dying in the Intensive Care Unit: Validation of the CAESAR Scale

Assistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Paris

Status: Completed

Conditions: Posttraumatic Stress Disorder; Depression; Anxiety

Study type: Observational

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT01549197

AOM10104

Details and patient eligibility

About

The purpose of the study is to evaluate the quality of the dying process in french ICUs (assessed by the CAESAR scale) and to compare physicians', nurses' and relatives perceptions and experiences, with a one-year follow-up of bereaved relatives.

Our hypothesis is that perception of the quality of dying may impact on relatives' experience of bereavement (anxiety, depression, complicated grief, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)).

Full description

Seventy percent of all deaths occur in the hospital environment, and amongst them 20% occur in intensive care units (ICU). In France, no studies have evaluated the quality of the end-of-life process from both the professional and the lay perspective.

The CAESAR scale has been developed from literature reviews and qualitative interviews with relatives, physicians and nurse to assess quality of dying in ICU. Our hypothesis is that perception of the quality of dying may impact on relatives' experience of bereavement (anxiety, depression, complicated grief, PTSD).

Enrollment: 475 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Adult patients Deceased in the ICU after at least 48 hours of ICU stay
• At least one visit of a relative in the ICU

Exclusion criteria

• no French-speaking relative

Trial design

475 participants in 1 patient group

ICU staff and relatives