Document Detail


Administration of comfort medication at end of life in neonates: effects of weight.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  18697652     Owner:  NLM     Status:  MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
PURPOSE: To examine whether a relationship exists between a neonate's weight and the neonate's receipt of comfort medication between four hours prior to elective ventilator withdrawal and death. It was hypothesized that the greater the neonate's weight, the more likely the neonate was to receive comfort medication at end of life. DESIGN: A retrospective chart review. SAMPLE: One hundred seventy-one neonates in a midwestern Level III NICU who died after withdrawal of ventilatory support. RESULTS: Of the 171 neonates in the sample, 27.5 percent (n = 47) did not receive comfort medication within the designated time frame; neonates who weighed < 800 g were significantly less likely to receive comfort medication than were their heavier cohorts. CONCLUSION: In this sample, smaller neonates were given comfort medication less often while they were dying than were their larger counterparts.
Authors:
Angela Lee Matthews; Susan O'Conner-Von
Publication Detail:
Type:  Journal Article    
Journal Detail:
Title:  Neonatal network : NN     Volume:  27     ISSN:  0730-0832     ISO Abbreviation:  Neonatal Netw     Publication Date:    2008 Jul-Aug
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2008-08-13     Completed Date:  2008-10-17     Revised Date:  -    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  8503921     Medline TA:  Neonatal Netw     Country:  United States    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  223-7     Citation Subset:  N    
Affiliation:
Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA.
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MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
Analgesia / methods,  nursing,  statistics & numerical data
Body Weight*
Chi-Square Distribution
Drug Utilization / statistics & numerical data
Female
Humans
Infant, Newborn
Intensive Care, Neonatal / methods,  statistics & numerical data
Male
Midwestern United States
Neonatal Nursing / methods,  statistics & numerical data
Nurse's Role
Nursing Assessment
Nursing Audit
Nursing Evaluation Research
Pain / diagnosis,  etiology,  prevention & control*
Pain Measurement
Palliative Care / methods*,  statistics & numerical data
Patient Advocacy
Patient Selection
Retrospective Studies
Time Factors
Ventilator Weaning / adverse effects*,  methods,  nursing
Withholding Treatment*

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine


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