Abstract: Objective To understand medical staff′s attitude to withdrawal of effective treatment in China, and to analyze its influencing factors. 
Methods Based on Medical Staff′s Employment Survey in 2023, random sampling was used to select hospitals in eastern, central and western China for investigation. A self-administered online questionnaire was designed based on expert opinions, and a total of 8 386 valid questionnaires were retrieved. The collected data were analyzed by descriptive statistics for frequency distribution, chi-square test for attitude of medical staff with different characteristics towards withdrawal of effective treatment, and binary logistic regression analysis for influencing factors. 
Results In total, 21.1% (1 769/8 386) of people chose "Yes" to agree to the request of the patient′s guardian; there were significant differences in attitudes towards "withdrawal of effective treatment" among medical staff of different genders, ages, marital status, the highest education level, job categories, professional titles, departments, and hospital types (P＜0.05). In addition, 66.5% of medical staff adopted different measures based on clinical practice. The results of binary logistic regression analysis showed that males, postgraduate degree, medical staff, emergency department and non-private hospitals were risk factors for the choice of medical staff to"withdraw effective treatment". Medical staff aged 44 and above, with higher job satisfaction and patient trust, were less likely to agree to the patient′s family′s request to "withdraw effective treatment" (P＜0.05). 
Conclusion In-depth research on policies, regulations and ethics related to withdrawal of treatment should be carried out, to provide guidance for medical decisions on life and death of end-stage patients. Standard procedures for withdrawal of treatment should be established to explore feasible models for shared decision making. 

Key words: withdrawing treatment, medical staff, doctor-patient decision