Integrating Social Determinants of Health in Critical Care

Social determinants of health (SDOHs) mediate outcomes of critical illness. Increasingly, professional organizations recommend screening for social risks. Yet, how clinicians should identify and then incorporate SDOHs into acute care practice is poorly defined.

How do medical ICU clinicians currently operationalize SDOHs within patient care, given that SDOHs are known to mediate outcomes of critical illness?

Using ethnographic methods, we observed clinical work rounds in three urban ICUs within a single academic health system to capture use of SDOHs during clinical care. Adults admitted to the medical ICU with respiratory failure were enrolled prospectively sequentially. Observers wrote field notes and narrative excerpts from rounding observations. We also reviewed electronic medical record documentation for up to 90 days after ICU admission. We then qualitatively coded and triangulated data using a constructivist grounded theory approach and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Healthy People SDOHs framework.

Sixty-six patients were enrolled and > 200 h of observation of clinical work rounds were included in the analysis. ICU clinicians infrequently integrated social structures of patients' lives into their discussions. Social structures were invoked most frequently when related to: (1) causes of acute respiratory failure, (2) decisions regarding life-sustaining therapies, and (3) transitions of care. Data about common SDOHs were not collected in any systematic way (eg, food and housing insecurity), and some SDOHs were discussed rarely or never (eg, access to education, discrimination, and incarceration).

We found that clinicians do not incorporate many areas of known SDOHs into ICU rounds. Improvements in integration of SDOHs should leverage the multidisciplinary team, identifying who is best suited to collect information on SDOHs during different time points in critical illness. Next steps include clinician-focused, patient-focused, and caregiver-focused assessments of feasibility and acceptability of an ICU-based SDOHs assessment.