MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Younsuck Koh Professor of Medicine
Professor of Medical Humanities and Social Sciences
Chairman, the Organizing Committee of the 12th World Federation of Societies of Intensive and Critical Care Medicine Congress in Seoul
Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine
Asan Medical Center, Univ. of Ulsan College of Medicine
Seoul, Korea and
Jason Phua MBBS, FRCP
National University Hospital, Singapore AVF Chairperson.
Senior Consultant & Head Division of Respiratory & Critical Care Medicine
Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Provision of humane end-of-life and palliative care for dying patients and their families must remain a focus in today’s intensive care units, which continue to see technological advancements in the forms of life-sustaining measures available. End-of-life care decisions are heavily dependent on the medical, ethical, social, and cultural context. Asia, which accounts for at least half of all patients with critical illness, mechanical ventilation, and intensive care unit deaths internationally, has diverse socioeconomic conditions, cultures, and religions. Therefore, it is likely that substantial difference in the way physicians approach
end-of-life care exist between Asia and the West, and among Asian countries and regions themselves. However, prior to our study, little data existed on the end-of-life care practices in this region. We found that even as end-of-life care practices in intensive care units vary significantly across Asian countries and regions, physicians in Asia generally seem less likely to limit life-sustaining treatments than their Western counterparts. Implementation of do-not-resuscitate orders are affected by multiple factors related to country or region, including economic, cultural, religious, and legal differences, as well as personal attitudes.
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