Published in:
01-01-2017 | Editorial
What were you able to do in your daily life? Performance status for the critically ill patient
Authors:
Maurizia Capuzzo, Maité Garrouste-Orgeas, Ignacio Martin-Loeches
Published in:
Intensive Care Medicine
|
Issue 1/2017
Login to get access
Excerpt
Mortality, which is the most robust outcome in critically ill patients, depends on risk factors such as comorbid conditions, age and severity of the acute illness. Whilst these risk factors are widely accepted in severity scores for predicting hospital mortality, there is a lack of information about the baseline performance status (PS) of the patients when being admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU). To allow an adequate clinical decision-making process and further discussion with patients or relatives, accurate prognostication of a patient’s outcome seems to be mandatory, however difficult and emotionally charged the task is for the physician. …
