The number of patients with cancer requiring intensive care unit admission is
increasing around the world. The improvement in the pathophysiological
understanding of this group of patients, as well as the increasingly better and
more targeted treatment options for their underlying disease, has led to a
significant increase in their survival over the past three decades. Within the
organizational concepts, it is necessary to know what adds value in the care of
critical oncohematological patients. Practices in medicine that do not benefit
patients and possibly cause harm are called low-value practices, while
high-value practices are defined as high-quality care at relatively low cost. In
this article, we discuss ten domains with high-value evidence in the care of
cancer patients: (1) intensive care unit admission policies; (2) intensive care
unit organization; (3) etiological investigation of hypoxemia; (4) management of
acute respiratory failure; (5) management of febrile neutropenia; (6) urgent
chemotherapy treatment in critically ill patients; (7) patient and family
experience; (8) palliative care; (9) care of intensive care unit staff; and (10)
long-term impact of critical disease on the cancer population. The disclosure of
such policies is expected to have the potential to change health care standards.
We understand that it is a lengthy process, and initiatives such as this paper
are one of the first steps in raising awareness and beginning a discussion about
high-value care in various health scenarios.