Quality of dying and death in the ICU. The euroQ2 project

Purpose: Knowledge of families' perspective of quality of intensive care unit (ICU) care is important, especially with regard to end-of-life (EOL) care. Adaptation of the US-developed "Quality of dying and death questionnaire" (QODD) to a European setting is lacking. The primary aim of this study is to examine the euroQODD's usability and its assessments of EOL care in a cohort of Danish and Dutch family members. Methods: Family members of patients dying in an ICU after a stay of at least 48 h were sent the euroQODD three weeks after the patient died. Selected patient characteristics were obtained from hospital records. A total of 11 Danish and 10 Dutch ICU's participated. Results: 217 family members completed the euroQODD part of the euroQ2 questionnaire. Overall rating of care was high, a median of 9 in Netherlands and 10 in Denmark on a 0-10 scale (p <0.001). The Danish were more likely to report adequate pain control all or most of the time (95% vs 73%; p