Projects

TBI-QualE Study

Traumatic brain injuries mainly afflict young healthy people and are a major public health issue. Damage extent is sometimes so important that victims who initially survive end up living with severe sequelae and significantly altered quality of life. For those who do not survive, death is often related with the shared decision to withdraw life-sustaining therapies made by families and the medical teams considering the altered level of consciousness of these patients and their inability to provide consent for care.

Because these patients are usually young and healthy prior to their injury, the process leading to the decision of withdrawing life-sustaining therapies thus raises important sensitive ethical and human issues. Determinants influencing the decision to recommend withdrawing life-sustaining therapies are poorly understood. This research program aims to identify the main determinants influencing intensivists and families in their decision to withdraw life-sustaining therapies in patients with severe TBI. This program aims at improving the care of victims of severe traumatic brain injury and improve level-of-care decisions at the bedside.

Funding

Fonds de Recherche du Québec – Santé; Canadian Institutes of Health Research

Co-investigators

• Patrick Archambault
• Francis Bernard
• Karen Burns
• Brian Cuthbertson
• Dean Fergusson
• Robert Fowler
• Donald Griesdale
• Jacques Lacroix
• François Lamontagne
• François Lauzier
• France Légaré
• Lynne Moore
• John Muscedere
• Damon Scales
• Janet Squires
• Ryan Zarychanski

Centres

• CHU de Québec – Hôpital de l’Enfant-Jésus (Quebec city, Quebec)
• Hôpital du Sacré-Cœur de Montréal (Montréal, Quebec)
• Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Sherbrooke (Sherbrooke, Quebec)
• The Ottawa Hospital (Ottawa, Ontario)
• Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center (Toronto, Ontario)
• St-Michaels Hospital (Toronto, Ontario)
• Vancouver General Hospital (Vancouver, British Columbia)