University of Wisconsin, Madison
The purpose of this study is to investigate a specific approach to patient care called a time-limited trial (TLT). This approach is sometimes used for people who develop critical illness and are cared for in an intensive care unit (ICU). A time-limited trial is a plan made together by medical teams, patients with critical illness (if they can take part), and their families or other important people helping to make their healthcare decisions. A time-limited trial starts with a discussion of the patient's goals and wishes. Then, a plan is made to use ICU treatments for a set period of time to give the patient the chance to recover. After this time, the patient's response to treatment will be reviewed to help guide what to do next. Medical teams consider this kind of plan when it is not clear if a patient can recover to a quality of life that is acceptable to them. With a time-limited trial, patients, families, and medical teams experience this uncertainty together. The main goal of this study is to find the best way to use TLTs for patients in the ICU who have trouble breathing and need mechanical ventilation to help them breathe. The hypothesis is that optimal time-limited trial delivery will reduce the time patients with acute respiratory failure spend in the ICU and will improve the intensive care unit experiences for their families and clinicians.
This is a multi-site observational study that will investigate the time-limited trial approach to care for patients with critical illness, which is a trial of life support with milestones and a timeline to help evaluate whether the patient is improving. The primary objective of this study is to define the optimal care delivery processes of a time-limited trial for adult intensive care unit (ICU) patients who develop acute respiratory failure requiring mechanical ventilation. The two aims of this study are to: Aim 1: Map the current processes of time-limited trial care delivery for patients wi…
Inclusion Criteria: Participants * Adult (age ≥ 18 years) * Acute respiratory failure: * Hypoxemic (low level of oxygen in the blood) or * Hypercapnic (high level of carbon dioxide in the blood) * Receiving invasive mechanical ventilation (patient needs a breathing machine to help them breathe) Surrogates * The main person/s (primary surrogate/s, also known as legally authorized representative/s) who are making medical decisions on behalf of an eligible patient * Will be identified by the treating ICU team according to established legal and ethical standards ICU Team Members * A…