Patient Ownership and Conflict in the Intensive Care Unit: Comment on “Surgeon-Reported Conflict With Intensivists About Postoperative Goals of Care”

Paul Olson and colleagues¹ attempt to answer the question of patient ownership with a survey of surgeons who frequently have patients in the intensive care unit. In view of the increased prevalence of hospitalists—whether they be intensivists, trauma surgeons, anesthesiologists, or internists—and the current resident work-hour restrictions, the issue of continuity of care is an increasingly important one. In the first few sentences of their article, the authors set the stage, citing recent critical care publications in which 70% of intensive care unit clinicians reported experiencing conflict on a weekly basis!