Palliative medicine referral in patients undergoing continuous renal replacement therapy for acute kidney injury

Referral patterns for palliative medicine consultation (PMC) by intensivists for patients requiring continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) have not been studied.

We retrospectively analyzed clinical data on patients who received CRRT in a tertiary referral center between 1999 and 2006 to determine timeliness and effectiveness of PMC referrals and mortality rate as a surrogate for safety among patients receiving CRRT for acute kidney injury.

Over one-fifth (21.1%) of the 230 CRRT patients studied were referred for PMC (n = 55). PMC was requested on average after median of 15 hospital and 13 intensive care unit (ICU) days. Multivariate regression analysis revealed no association between mortality risk and PMC. Total hospital length of stay for patients who died after PMC referral was 18.5 (95% CI = 15-25) days compared with 12.5 days (95% CI = 9-17) for patients who died without PMC referral. ICU care for patients who died and received PMC was longer than for patients with no PMC [11.5 (95% CI = 9-15) days vs. 7.0 (95% CI = 6-9) days, p < 0.01]. CRRT duration was longer for patients who died and received PMC referral than for those without PMC [5.5 (95% CI = 4-8) vs. 3.0 (95% CI = 3-4) days; p < 0.01].

PMC was safe, but referrals were delayed and ineffective in optimizing the utilization of intensive care in patients receiving CRRT. A proactive, "triggered" referral process will likely be necessary to improve timeliness of PMC and reduce duration of non-beneficial life-sustaining therapies.