Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 Dec 9;12(23):2489.
doi: 10.3390/healthcare12232489.

What Helps or Hinders End-of-Life Care in Adult Intensive Care Units in Saudi Arabia? A Mixed-Methods Study Protocol

Nabat Almalki  1   2 , Breidge Boyle  1 , Peter O'Halloran  1
Affiliations

What Helps or Hinders End-of-Life Care in Adult Intensive Care Units in Saudi Arabia? A Mixed-Methods Study Protocol

Nabat Almalki et al. Healthcare (Basel). .

Abstract

Background: In the intensive care unit, many patients are dying despite advanced therapeutic technology and optimized treatment. The critical care team is expected to deliver end-of-life care for the dying patient and their family. However, it is challenging to provide adequate support to families due to the ideas and emotions associated with the end of life. This can be influenced by different beliefs and cultures among patients and healthcare professionals. Added to this, research about end-of-life practices in intensive care units in Saudi Arabia is limited. Therefore, this study protocol aims to examine: (1) What end-of-life care is provided by healthcare teams in adult intensive care units in Saudi Arabia? (2) What helps or hinders effective end-of-life care in adult intensive care units in Saudi Arabia? Method: This study will use a mixed-methods, sequential, explanatory design consisting of two phases. Phase 1 will include a cross-sectional study design with a convenience sample of approximately 400 healthcare providers who will be invited from three military hospitals in Saud Arabia. the Palliative and End-of-Life Care Index (PEOL Care Index) will be used to assess palliative and end-of-life care education, practice, and perceived competence among the staff. Additionally, a questionnaire on the barriers to optimal end-of-life care and the perceived benefit of potential strategies to improve end-of-life care will be applied to obtain the views of managers. Phase 2 of the study will be a qualitative descriptive design involving semi-structured interviews with healthcare providers, managers, and bereaved family members. Conclusion: The study findings will contribute to understanding current practice in relation to palliative and end-of-life care in intensive care units in Saudi Arabia. It will provide valuable insight into barriers to and facilitators of care, which will help to develop strategies and interventions to improve the quality of end-of-life practices in ICUs. In addition, this research will provide significant information regarding family members' experiences of end-of-life care provided to their relatives.

Keywords: critical care; death and dying; end-of-life care; intensive care unit; mixed-methods study; palliative care; terminal illness.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Diagram of study procedures.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Flowchart of the implementation and integration of explanatory sequential mixed-methods design.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Metaxa V., Anagnostou D., Vlachos S., Arulkumaran N., Bensemmane S., van Dusseldorp I., Aslakson R.A., Davidson J.E., Gerritsen R.T., Hartog C., et al. Palliative care interventions in intensive care unit patients. Intensive Care Med. 2021;47:1415–1425. doi: 10.1007/s00134-021-06544-6. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Aldawood A.S., Alsultan M., Arabi Y.M., Baharoon S.A., Al-Qahtani M., Haddad S.H., Al-Dorzi H.M., Jahdali H.A., Alatassi A., Rishu A.H. End-of-life practices in a tertiary intensive care unit in Saudi Arabia. Anaesth. Intensive Care. 2012;40:137–141. doi: 10.1177/0310057X1204000116. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Coombs M.A., Addington-Hall J., Long-Sutehall T. Challenges in transition from intervention to end of life care in intensive care: A qualitative study. Int. J. Nurs. Stud. 2012;49:519–527. doi: 10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2011.10.019. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Griffiths I. What are the challenges for nurses when providing end-of-life care in intensive care units? Br. J. Nurs. 2019;28:1047–1052. doi: 10.12968/bjon.2019.28.16.1047. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Bloomer M.J., Ranse K., Butler A., Brooks L. A national Position Statement on adult end-of-life care in critical care. Aust. Crit. Care. 2021;4:480–487. doi: 10.1016/j.aucc.2021.06.006. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources