Open AccessPalliative extubation: obstacles, challenges and solutions
Author(s) -
Sandra Viviana Amaya-Vanegas,
Ómar Fernando Gomezese-Ribero
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
colombian journal of anesthesiology/revista colombiana de anestesiología/revista colombiana de anestesiologia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.145
H-Index - 9
eISSN - 2145-4604
pISSN - 0120-3347
DOI - 10.5554/22562087.e986
Subject(s) - medicine , palliative care , quality of life (healthcare) , process (computing) , risk analysis (engineering) , protocol (science) , intensive care medicine , quality (philosophy) , operations management , nursing , computer science , engineering , alternative medicine , pathology , operating system , philosophy , epistemology
Life support withdrawal can be a challenging decision, but it should be considered as an option when death is inevitable or recovery to an acceptable quality of life is not possible. The process is beset by obstacles that must be overcome to finally offer patients comfort and a peaceful death.In this article, we offer a series of tools that seek to solve the challenges of palliative extubation, as well as a protocol that could facilitate the decision to withdraw life support, making palliative extubation an alternative to consider instead of artificially prolonging life at the expense of unacceptable human and economic costs.