How ICU clinicians document ‘Futility’: A 10-year analysis of critical care notes using natural language processing notes
Use of futility was rare and stable across a decade of ICU notes. Semantic analysis indicates clinicians use futility in heterogeneous contexts. Changes in themes' frequencies may reflect clinicians' evolving conceptions of medical futility. These findings could guide development of EHR-based interventions to address perceived futile treatments which contribute to clinicians' moral distress.
Authors
- John Boscardin
- Eric Widera (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2296-2852)
- Teva D. Brender (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2831-3039)
- Timothy A. Heintz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0331-4609)
- Hunter Mills
- Shannen Kim
- Steven Z. Pantilat (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1004-7892)
- Kristen Vossler (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4348-6712)
- H. J. Yang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-8274-9863)
- Allyson C Chapman
- Edie Espejo
- Natalie Stumpf
- Julien Cobert
- Alexander K. Smith
- Albert Lee
Institutions
- Brigham and Women's Hospital (US)
- San Francisco VA Medical Center (US)
- Harvard University (US)
- University of California, San Francisco (US)
- San Francisco VA Health Care System (US)
- University of San Francisco (US)
- Stanford University (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Journal of Critical Care
- Published
- 2026-03-23
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrc.2026.155526
- Primary Topic
- Palliative Care and End-of-Life Issues
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00