Managing clinical uncertainty: an ethnographic study of the impact of critical care outreach on end-of-life transitions in ward-based critically ill patients with a life-limiting illness.

Abstract

Rapid response teams, such as critical care outreach teams, have prominent roles in managing end-of-life transitions in critical illness, often questioning appropriateness of treatment escalation. Clinical uncertainty presents clinicians with dilemmas in how and when to escalate or de-escalate treatment.