Table 3 Interview guide for focus groups
Theme | Questions |
|---|---|
Experiences and perception of palliative continuous sedation | According to your perception, how would you understand the concept of palliative continuous sedation? Can you tell me about your experience of continuous sedation for agitated delirium/dyspnea/psychological distress/pain/vomiting, etc.? |
Situations when palliative continuous sedation is used | For what situations do you see a role for palliative continuous sedation to be used? |
Clinical approach to palliative continuous sedation | What is your clinical approach to continuous sedation? Which medications do you use? Does your program/institution have specific guidelines for palliative continuous sedation? What parameters do you use to decide if you are using the correct amount of sedation? Sedation can be classified as proportional, which may be lighter, and continuous deep sedation, which is deeper. Do you consider these to be distinct? If so, how? How would you characterize a high quality palliative sedation versus a low quality continuous sedation? Do you measure the quality? What do you primarily intend to accomplish with continuous sedation? Have you ever felt that, by providing palliative sedation, you were at least partially intending to shorten life? What do you explore when talking with your team? What do you explore when talking with the family? Does the family ever influence your clinical management? How do you approach the option of continuous sedation in cases of existential distress? |
Impact of assisted death and COVID-19 | How would you describe the impact that the legalization of medical assistance in dying (assisted death) has had on your practice of palliative continuous sedation (if any)? How would you describe the impact of COVID-19 on your practices (if any)? |
Ethics | What challenges or difficulties do you encounter when considering initiating continuous sedation (if any)? |