Elements of a high-quality inpatient consultation in the intensive care unit. A qualitative study

Inpatient consultation by specialists is one of the most common medical interventions in the modern intensive care unit (ICU), but few data exist on components of high-quality consultation.

Our objective was to use qualitative methods to develop a conceptual framework of consultative quality in critically ill patients.

We conducted a qualitative study of medical ICU physicians at a single institution using a novel, semistructured interview guide. We elicited physicians' attitudes toward processes of obtaining specialty consultation, identified perceived elements of high-quality consults, and identified barriers to obtaining high-quality consults. We used grounded theory to identify themes.

ICU physicians described four common reasons for involving a consulting physician: the need for clinical or procedural expertise, an explicit or implicit protocol of the institution mandating the consult, an opportunity to provide education to the primary or consulting team, and/or at the family's request. Participants identified seven components of a high-quality consult, including the consulting teams' (1) decisiveness, (2) thoroughness, (3) level of interest, (4) professionalism, (5) expertise, (6) timeliness, and (7) involvement with the family of the patient. The intensive care team, the consult team, the health system, and the temporal context in which the consultation takes place may influence the quality of the consultation.

Several key factors are necessary for a consult to be judged high quality. An opportunity exists to develop an instrument to assess and to improve specialty consultations in the ICU based on these findings.