Different care settings in Quebec use levels of medical intervention forms, also called levels of care (LOC), to determine the code status of patients and to improve end-of-life care planning. It is not currently possible to know whether the levels of care in hospitals benefit patients and staff in facilitating the decision making process of treatment options and resuscitation measures. No study, to the best of the authors' knowledge, has been published about LOC, particularly in Quebec and Canada. This literature review was undertaken on levels of care in order to clarify this topic. Relevant articles are discussed under different themes that are pertinent to LOC. The themes addressed in this article include care at the end of life, do-not-resuscitate orders, treatment withdrawal, and decision making at end of life.
Keywords: Levels of medical intervention; arrêt de traitement; decision making; do-not-resuscitate orders; end–of-life care; levels of care; niveaux de soins; niveaux d’interventions médicales; ordonnances de non-réanimation; prise de décision; soins en fin de vie; withdrawing life-sustaining treatment.