Palliative care in critically ill COVID-19 patients: the early New York City experience

Jacqueline Sheehan, Kam Sing Ho, Joseph Poon, Kimberly Sarosky, Jennifer Y. Fung

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

18 Scopus citations

Abstract

Objectives The COVID-19 pandemic in the USA has been accompanied by high rates of mortality and an unprecedented need for palliative care delivery. Little is known about the use of palliative care services in intensive care unit (ICU) settings during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods This is a retrospective cohort study of critically ill COVID-19 patients requiring ICU admission, between 7 March and 14 April 2020 to two academic teaching hospitals in New York City. Palliative care consultation included a one-time telemedicine consultation or continued telemedicine consultation and follow-up with multidisciplinary team involvement. Patient information was collected from the electronic health record and analyses were conducted with Stata V.15.1 (StataCorp) statistical software. Results A total of 151 critically ill patients with COVID-19 pneumonia requiring ICU admission were identified, of whom 59 (39.07%) received an inpatient palliative care consultation. More than half of patients died (n=85/151, 56.29%), with 57.65% (n=49/85) of these patients receiving palliative care services during their hospitalisation. Patients who received palliative care consultation were more likely to be older, sicker and receive mechanical ventilation than their counterparts. Patients who died and did not receive palliative care were younger and required non-invasive ventilation support. Conclusion There is a lack of utilisation of palliative care in COVID-19 patients admitted to the ICU. Further research into predictors of poor outcomes in critically ill COVID-19 patients may help identify patients that would benefit from early palliative care involvement going forward.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)107-111
Number of pages5
JournalBMJ Supportive and Palliative Care
Volume13
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 2023

Keywords

  • hospital care
  • respiratory conditions
  • supportive care

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