Reported practice of communicating futility to patients and their families
| Intensive care clinicians | Palliative care clinicians | |
| Setting and form | Reveal futility stepwise | Show empathy |
| Call other team members to the discussion for support | Explore what patient or family already know or think | |
| Choose the right moment for the discussion* | ||
| Give the patient and family time to process the information* | ||
| Content | Recapitulate illness course so far | Be honest about the prognosis |
| Try to support the futility decision by the patient's will | Offer the treatment alternative of palliative care | |
| Explain harmful consequences of treatment* | ||
| Show unanimity of the professional team* | ||
↵* Categories found in interviews with both disciplines.