Provider concordance regarding elements of goals-of-care discussions in neonatal intensive care

Abstract

Clinicians may struggle to discuss goals of care with parents in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and may view key elements of such conversations differently. We previously described the relationship between components of goals-of-care discussions and change in moral distress following goals-of-care discussions.1 With the analysis described here, we sought to determine how providers who participated in the same goals-of-care discussion viewed key discussion elements in comparison with other provider participants. Understanding differences and concordance in perceptions may help to (1) understand the quality of goals-of-care discussions, (2) improve metrics of communication quality and (3) inform the development of targeted interventions to improve communication quality.