To ventilate or not to ventilate: A qualitative analysis of physicians' experience during the first and second waves of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Saved in:
| Title: | To ventilate or not to ventilate: A qualitative analysis of physicians' experience during the first and second waves of the COVID-19 pandemic. |
|---|---|
| Authors: | Weinberg-Kurnik, Galia (AUTHOR), Manor, Uri (AUTHOR), Avnon Sawicki, Amitai (AUTHOR), Steinlauf, Shmuel (AUTHOR), Leichtentritt, Ronit Dina (AUTHOR) |
| Source: | Death Studies. 2026, Vol. 50 Issue 3, p422-435. 14p. |
| Subjects: | Psychology of physicians, Qualitative research, Critically ill, Patients, Interviewing, Physicians' attitudes, Decision making in clinical medicine, Severity of illness index, Work experience (Employment), Judgment sampling, Tertiary care, Thematic analysis, Family attitudes, Ethics, Sound recordings, Artificial respiration, Life support systems in critical care, Research methodology, Job stress, Phenomenology, Psychosocial factors, Health facility employees, COVID-19, COVID-19 pandemic, Patients' attitudes, Medical care costs |
| Geographic Terms: | Israel |
| Abstract: | Little is known about experiences of physicians when deciding on initiating life support during medical crises of mass casualties and undersupply. We performed a qualitative analysis of interviews with 14 physicians about their decision-making experience when considering initiating mechanical ventilation in patients with severe COVID-19 during the early pandemic. Three themes were revealed: (a) The accumulating clinical experience with invasive ventilation, and the physicians' perception of ventilation as effective or futile in these patients; (b) Preferences of patients and their families regarding mechanical ventilation; and (c) Economic, logistic, and organizational considerations of the undersupplied healthcare system. The circumstances under which end-of-life decisions were made often caused moral injury to physicians, in particular when their personal ethical standpoints were not integrated in the decision-making process. Our findings explore the moral injury suffered by physicians and may help identify strategies to mitigate moral injury of healthcare staff in times of medical crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
| Copyright of Death Studies is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.) | |
| Database: | Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection |
|
Full text is not displayed to guests.
Login for full access.
|
|
| Abstract: | Little is known about experiences of physicians when deciding on initiating life support during medical crises of mass casualties and undersupply. We performed a qualitative analysis of interviews with 14 physicians about their decision-making experience when considering initiating mechanical ventilation in patients with severe COVID-19 during the early pandemic. Three themes were revealed: (a) The accumulating clinical experience with invasive ventilation, and the physicians' perception of ventilation as effective or futile in these patients; (b) Preferences of patients and their families regarding mechanical ventilation; and (c) Economic, logistic, and organizational considerations of the undersupplied healthcare system. The circumstances under which end-of-life decisions were made often caused moral injury to physicians, in particular when their personal ethical standpoints were not integrated in the decision-making process. Our findings explore the moral injury suffered by physicians and may help identify strategies to mitigate moral injury of healthcare staff in times of medical crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 07481187 |
| DOI: | 10.1080/07481187.2024.2432288 |
