Table 2 Important problems when making decisions about limiting intensive care
Question | Total | Physicians | Nurses | p-value | German speaking area | French speaking area | p-value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Difficulty in foreseeing patient’s future quality of life | 93.8 (91.0–95.8) | 94.7 (88.3–97.7) | 93.5 (90.1–95.8) | 0.673 | 92.8 (89.1–95.3) | 96.4 (91.1–98.6) | 0.184 |
Difficulty of making an accurate long term prognosis | 89.5 (86.1–92.2) | 92.6 (85.6–96.4) | 88.6 (84.4–91.7) | 0.259 | 89.2 (85.1–92.4) | 90.3 (83.4–94.5) | 0.766 |
Difficulty of interpreting parents’ attitudes precisely | 89.3 (85.8–92.0) | 81.7 (72.7–88.3) | 91.7 (88.0–94.4) | 0.007 | 88.3 (84.0–91.6) | 91.7 (85.0–95.6) | 0.329 |
Insufficient time for decision-making | 74.2 (69.6–78.4) | 54.3 (44.2–64.0) | 80.9 (75.9–85.0) | < 0.001 | 74.7 (69.3–79.5) | 72.8 (63.5–80.5) | 0.706 |
Legal constraints | 73.3 (68.6–77.6) | 54.3 (44.2–64.1) | 79.5 (74.4–83.8) | < 0.001 | 74.0 (68.4–78.9) | 71.8 (62.8–79.4) | 0.669 |
Impossibility of obtaining the patient’s own views | 66.2 (61.2–70.9) | 64.9 (54.8–73.8) | 66.7 (60.9–72.0) | 0.754 | 69.3 (63.5–74.6) | 58.3 (48.6–67.3) | 0.044 |
Lack of a consistent Unit policy to guide you | 64.4 (59.3–69.2) | 36.1 (26.6–46.9) | 73.0 (67.4–77.9) | < 0.001 | 58.1 (52.0–64.0) | 80.8 (72.0–87.4) | < 0.001 |
Conflict between your own principles and Unit policy | 55.5 (50.4–60.5) | 40.0 (30.5–50.3) | 60.4 (54.6–65.9) | 0.001 | 53.5 (47.6–59.4) | 60.6 (51.0–69.4) | 0.220 |
Difficulty of foreseeing future developments in medicine which may help babies who now appear hopeless cases | 43.2 (38.2–48.3) | 29.8 (21.5–39.7) | 47.8 (41.9–53.7) | 0.002 | 43.9 (38.1–49.8) | 41.2 (32.0–51.2) | 0.654 |
Society’s lack of solidarity for the disabled | 40.4 (35.6–45.4) | 22.1 (14.9–31.4) | 46.4 (40.7–52.1) | < 0.001 | 39.7 (34.1–45.6) | 42.2 (33.4–51.6) | 0.654 |
Shortage of services for the disabled | 37.5 (32.7–42.6) | 12.4 (7.0–20.8) | 45.5 (39.8–51.4) | < 0.001 | 33.7 (28.3–39.7) | 46.7 (37.6–56.1) | 0.019 |