Comparison of clinicians’ perceptions of the Recommended Summary Plan for Emergency Care and Treatment (ReSPECT) before and during the COVID-19 pandemic

INTRODUCTION: The Recommended Summary Plan for Emergency Care and Treatment (ReSPECT) process encourages collaboration between clinicians, patients, and relatives on emergency care wishes and resuscitation decisions. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on clinicians’ views of the ReSPECT process was unknown. We examined whether there were changes in clinicians’ knowledge, skills, and attitudes regarding ReSPECT during the pandemic. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional survey of clinicians at one acute hospital in the UK. We developed a questionnaire with a defined 5-point Likert scale and asked clinicians to recall their pre-pandemic views on ReSPECT and report their current views at the time of survey distribution (May 2020, end of the first COVID-19 wave in the UK). We compared their self-reported views before and during the pandemic. RESULTS: We analysed 171 questionnaire responses. Clinicians reported ReSPECT telephone discussions with relatives were more challenging (pre-pandemic median 4, IQR 3–4; during pandemic median 4, IQR 4–5; p < 0.001) and negative emotions whilst conducting these discussions with relatives increased during the pandemic (pre-pandemic median 3, IQR 2–3.5; during pandemic median 3, IQR 2–4; p < 0.001). Clinicians also reported an increase in the importance of reaching a shared understanding of decisions with patients and relatives (pre-pandemic median 4, IQR 4–5; during pandemic median 5, IQR 4–5; p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: There were differences in clinicians’ knowledge, skills, and attitudes scores before and during the pandemic. Our findings highlighted that clinicians could benefit from training in remote ReSPECT conversations with relatives.