Denis Devictor

World Federation of Pediatric Intensive Care and Critical Care Societies: Global Sepsis Initiative*

Background: According to World Health Organization estimates, sepsis accounts for 60%–80% of lost lives per year in childhood. Measures appropriate for resource-scarce and resource-abundant settings alike can reduce sepsis deaths. In this regard, the World Federation of Pediatric Intensive Care and Critical Care Societies Board of Directors announces the Global Pediatric Sepsis Initiative, a quality improvement program designed to improve quality of care for children with sepsis. Objectives: To announce the global sepsis initiative; to justify some of the bundles that are included; and to show some preliminary data and encourage participation. Methods: The Global Pediatric Sepsis Initiative is developed as a Web-based education, demonstration, and pyramid bundles/checklist tool (http://www.pediatricsepsis.org or http://www.wfpiccs.org). Four health resource categories are included. Category A involves a nonindustrialized setting with mortality rate <5 yrs and >30 of 1,000 children. Category B involves a nonindustrialized setting with mortality rate <5 yrs and <30 of 1,000 children. Category C involves a developing industrialized nation. In category D, developed industrialized nation are determined and separate accompanying administrative and clinical parameters bundles or checklist quality improvement recommendations are provided, requiring greater resources and tasks as resource allocation increased from groups A to D, respectively. Results: In the vanguard phase, data for 361 children (category A, n = 34; category B, n = 12; category C, n = 84; category D, n = 231) were successfully entered, and quality-assurance reports were sent to the 23 participating international centers. Analysis of bundles for categories C and D showed that reduction in mortality was associated with compliance with the resuscitation (odds ratio, 0.369; 95% confidence interval, 0.188–0.724; p < .0004) and intensive care unit management (odds ratio, 0.277; 95% confidence interval, 0.096–0.80) bundles. Conclusions: The World Federation of Pediatric Intensive Care and Critical Care Societies Global Pediatric Sepsis Initiative is online. Success in reducing pediatric mortality and morbidity, evaluated yearly as a measure of global child health care quality improvement, requires ongoing active recruitment of international participant centers. Please join us at http://www.pediatricsepsis.org or http://www.wfpiccs.org.

The Presence of Family Members During Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation: European Federation of Critical Care Nursing Associations, European Society of Paediatric and Neonatal Intensive Care and European Society of Cardiology Council on Cardiovascular Nursing and Allied Professions Joint Position Statement

This paper presents the European federation of Critical Care Nursing associations, the European Society of Paediatric and Neonatal Intensive Care, and the European Society of Cardiology Council on Cardiovascular Nursing and Allied Professions Joint Position Statement on The Presence of Family Members During Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation. Copyright of this position statement is jointly owned by the European Federation of Critical Care Nursing associations, the European Society of Paediatric and Neonatal Intensive Care, the Council on Cardiovascular Nursing and Applied Professions, and Connect Healthcare Publishing Ltd.

Forgoing life support: how the decision is made in European pediatric intensive care units

PurposeTo determine how decisions to forgo life support are made in European pediatric intensive care units (PICUs).MethodsA multicenter, prospective study, the Eurydicexa0II study, among 45 PICUs: 20 in France, 21 in Northern/Western (N/W) European countries, and 4 in Eastern/Central (E/C) Europe. Data were collected between November 2009 and April 2010 through a questionnaire.ResultsThe decision to forgo life-sustaining treatment was made in 166 (40.6%) out of 409 deceased children (median 42.9%, France 38.2%, N/W European countries 60.0%, E/C European countries 0%; Pxa0<xa00.001). In the E/C group, more patients died after cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) failure than after forgoing life support (Pxa0<xa00.001). In all PICUs, caregivers discussed the decision during a formal meeting, after which the medical staff made the final decision. The decision was often documented in the medical record (median 100%). The majority of the parents were informed of the final decision and were at the bedside during their child’s death (median 100%). Decision to forgo life-sustaining treatment occurred in 40.6% of children, compared with 33% in Eurydicexa0I. A high percentage of parents from France were now informed about the meeting and its conclusion as compared with Eurydicexa0I (median 100%).ConclusionsThe results of this study and comparison with the Eurydicexa0I study (2002) show a trend towards standardization of end-of-life practices across N/W European countries and France in the past decade.

Forgoing life-sustaining or death-prolonging therapy in the pediatric ICU.

Most deaths in the pediatric intensive care unit occur after a decision to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining treatments. The management of children at the end of life can be divided into three steps. The first concerns the decision-making process. The second concerns the actions taken once a decision has been made to forego life-sustaining treatments. The third regards the evaluation of the decision and its implementation. The mission of pediatric intensive care has expanded to provide the best possible care to dying children and their families. Improving the quality of care received by dying children remains an ongoing challenge for every pediatric intensive care unit team member.

Intercontinental differences in end-of-life attitudes in the pediatric intensive care unit: results of a worldwide survey.

Objective: To examine intercontinental differences in end-of-life practices in pediatric intensive care units. Design: An international survey. The on-line questionnaire consisted of two case scenarios with five questions each. The scenarios described the management of children in pediatric intensive care units and the questions dealt with the decision-making process and the modalities of forgoing life support. Setting: The participants at the 5th World Congress on Pediatric Critical Care Medicine organized by the World Federation of Pediatric Intensive and Critical Care Societies (June 2007, Geneva, Switzerland) were invited to participate. Interventions: None. Measurements and Main Results: Six hundred sixty seven complete questionnaires were received from 71 countries, which were grouped into six continents: Europe (52.7%), North America (17.9%) and South America (9.5%), Asia (7.6%), Australia (6%), and Middle East (4.3%). In both scenarios, physicians played the major role in decision making in all of the continents. However, parents from North America, Australia, the Middle East, and Asia seem to be more involved in the decision-making process, compared with those from Europe and South America. In cases of septic shock, caregivers from Europe and South America are more prone to forego life support despite parents’ wishes. In North America and Australia, parents’ presence during cardiopulmonary resuscitation is usually accepted (89.7% and 92.3%, respectively), whereas their presence is less accepted in Asia (54%) and Europe (54.8%), or much less accepted in South America (25.8%) and the Middle East (7.1%). In both scenarios, the option to withhold rather than withdraw life supports was more commonly chosen among all continents, except South America, where the withdrawal of life support was more often proposed (51.6% vs. 45.2%). Conclusions: This study confirms that important intercontinental differences exist toward end-of-life issues in pediatric intensive care. Although the legal and ethical situation is rapidly evolving, a certain degree of paternalism seems to persist among European and South-American caregivers. This study suggests that ethical principles depend on the cultural roots of countries or continents, emphasizing the need to foster dialogue on end-of-life issues around the world to learn from each other and improve end-of-life care in pediatric intensive care units.

World Federation of Pediatric Intensive and Critical Care Societies-its global agenda.

The World Federation of Pediatric Intensive and Critical Care Societies (WFPICCS) is an international body that brings together international expertise, experience, and influence to improve the outcomes of children suffering from life-threatening illness and injury. Its mission is educational, scientific, and charitable in nature. WFPICCS is committed to a global environment, in which all children have access to intensive and critical care of the highest standard. It exists to find ways of improving the care of critically ill children throughout the world, and making that knowledge available to those who care for such children. As in an ideal world all children should have access to state of the art critical care services, this is unlikely to happen anytime soon. Faced with this reality, the member societies of the WFPICCS will strive to develop the best model and provide the best care for critically ill and injured children worldwide. The challenge is to find the appropriate role that we need to (and can effectively) play in decreasing both unnecessary death and suffering for children. Clearly, we cannot achieve these goals on our own, hence WFPICCS visualizes close cooperation and collaboration with other agencies offering care to critically ill or injured children such as the World Health Organization, World Federation of Societies of Intensive and Critical Care Medicine, International Pediatric Associations, and regional organizations and programs to achieve our objectives. We feel that this document while imperfect is a good starting point and hope that it will stimulate more discussion to guide the agenda of the federation for years to come.

The Presence of Family Members During Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation

Paul Fulbrook RN; PhD, MSc, PGDipEd, BSc (Hons), Professor of Nursing, Australian Catholic University, Brisbane, Australia, Jos Latour RN; MSc, Clinical Researcher, Erasmus MC-Sophia Children’s Hospital, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, John Albarran RN; MSc, BSc (Hons), NFESC, Principal Lecturer in Critical Care, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK, Wouter de Graaf RN, RCCN, President, EfCCNa, Fiona Lynch RN; MSc, BSc, President, Scientific Committee, ESPNIC Nursing, Denis Devictor MD; PhD, President ESPNIC, Tone Norekvål, RN; MSc, NFESC, Chair, Council on Cardiovascular Nursing and Allied Professions; The Presence of Family Members During Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Working Group.