Chest
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Comparative Study
Family member satisfaction with end-of-life decision making in the ICU.
Families of ICU patients may be at risk for increased psychological morbidity due to end-of-life decision making. The identification of chart-based quality indicators of palliative care that predict family satisfaction with decision making may help to guide interventions to improve decision making and family outcomes. ⋯ Increased family satisfaction with decision making is associated with withdrawing life support and the documentation of palliative care indicators including the following: physician recommendations to withdraw life support; expressions of patients' wishes; and discussions of families' spiritual needs. These findings provide direction for future studies to investigate approaches to improving family satisfaction in end-of-life decision making. In addition, because there were few nonwhites in this study, these results may not be generalizable to more diverse populations. Future studies should target diverse populations in order to test whether similar factors are similarly important for end-of-life decision making.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Comparative Study
Donepezil improves obstructive sleep apnea in Alzheimer disease: a double-blind, placebo-controlled study.
There is an association between Alzheimer disease and sleep-disordered breathing. Donepezil is the drug most frequently used to treat cognitive symptoms in Alzheimer disease. This study evaluates the effects of donepezil on obstructive sleep apnea in patients with Alzheimer disease. ⋯ Donepezil treatment improved AHI and oxygen saturation in patients with Alzheimer disease. Treatment also increased REM sleep duration and reduced ADAS-cog scores.