Brain Death diagnostic criteria: the experience of physicians with the current protocol

Abstract

Introduction. Brain death (BD) is defined by the complete and irreversible loss of brain and brainstem functions. Its diagnosis follows specific clinical criteria, which requires medical knowledge and skills. Objectives. To verify the knowledge and experience of physicians regarding the current BD diagnostic protocol. Method. Quantitative, exploratory, descriptive, and cross-sectional study, with the participation of 99 physicians from a reference hospital in trauma care, in the metropolitan region of Belém. Data collection took place between October 2021 and June 2022. A questionnaire prepared by the authors containing questions about knowledge and experience with the BD protocol was applied. Results, 60.6% of the participants were male, aged between 20 and 39 years (75.8%) and graduated between 2011 and 2020 (50.5%). There was a better performance among participants who were neurosurgeons (p=0.003). There was also a higher number of correct answers in the following groups: physicians who were responsible for opening the BD protocol (p<0.001), those with previous experience in caring for coma patients (p=0.003), those who had participated in training/ training (p<0.001). Also, 39.4% of physicians reported feeling uncomfortable having to communicate the diagnosis to family members. As for the introduction of the subject in graduation, 28.3% reported it as bad. Conclusions. The findings revealed that there are gaps in knowledge about the current BD protocol, particularly during academic training, requiring further discussion on the subject during graduation.