Development and Implementation of a Clinician-facing Prognostic Communication Tool for Patients with COVID-19 and Critical Illness

Gibbon, Lindsay M.; GrayBuck, Katherine E.; Buck, Laura I.; Huang, Kuang-Ning; Penumarthy, Neela L.; Wu, Shirou; Curtis, J. Randall

Abstract Effective prognostication for a novel disease presents significant challenges, especially given the stress induced during a pandemic. We developed a point-of-care tool to summarize outcome data for critically ill patients with COVID-19 and help guide clinicians through a thoughtful prognostication process. Two authors reviewed studies of outcomes of patients with critical illness due to COVID-19 and created a visual infographic tool based on available data. Survival data were supplemented by descriptions of best and worst-case clinical scenarios. The tool also included prompts for clinician reflection designed to enhance awareness of cognitive biases that may affect prognostic accuracy. This online, open source COVID-19 Prognostication Tool has been made available to all clinicians at our institution and is updated weekly to reflect evolving data. Our COVID-19 Prognostication Tool may provide a useful approach to promoting consistent and high-quality prognostic communication across a healthcare system.