NCCEd: Neurocritical Care Education for Residents

Objective: Share prognostic information, including conveying prognostic uncertainty, in family meetings

Objective: Support family and team members in navigating decision-making in the face of uncertainty

Rationale: The nature of many acute neurosurgical pathologies mandates that a key skill neurosurgeons must have is that of articulating prognostic uncertainty when offering operative intervention and helping guide others in decision-making in the face of this uncertainty. This is a key feature that differentiates family meetings in the neurocritically ill population from typical palliative care practice.

Objective: Discuss the ethical considerations surrounding brain death

Rationale: Brain death is often misunderstood. As many neurosurgical pathologies may lead to brain death, neurosurgeons must be able to explain the ethical considerations when managing patients and communicating with primary teams and the patients’ loved ones.