Although not statistically significant, the findings are clinically and economically meaningful, suggesting that early palliative care consultation can shorten intensive care unit and hospital stays for patients receiving extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. The extracorporeal membrane oxygenation checklist was easy to use, requiring minimal training. Full implementation was achieved in less than 7 days, making the intervention replicable across health care facilities. Further research with larger samples is needed to better understand the impact of palliative care in this population.
Brandt et al. (Wed,) studied this question.