Initiatives to improve end-of-life care in intensive care units face several important barriers.
These include inflated expectations for critical care therapies, which are shared by many …

A growing body of literature suggests that many patients in intensive care units (ICUs) have
inadequately controlled symptoms near the end of life [1–5]. There is also evidence that the …

Objective: There are numerous challenges to successfully integrating palliative care in the
intensive care unit. Our primary goal was to describe and compare the quality of palliative …

A growing body of evidence and experience has effaced what were once thought to be clear
distinctions between “critical illness” and “terminal illness” and has exposed the problems of …

The disciplines of critical care and palliative care may initially seem to be polar opposites,
yet they share fundamental features. Both focus on the sickest patients in the healthcare …

Objectives: High-quality care for intensive care unit patients and families includes palliative
care. To promote performance improvement, the Agency for Healthcare Research and …

Quality of health care is primarily concerned with the provision of health services that intend
to lead to valued health outcomes and are based and driven by evidence. Among other …

Palliative care is a core component of comprehensive care for patients facing critical illness,
regardless of age, diagnosis, or prognosis. Key domains of intensive care unit (ICU) …

Objective: Although the majority of hospital deaths occur in the intensive care unit and
virtually all critically ill patients and their families have palliative needs, we know little about …

Delivery of palliative care in the ICU will be hampered until studies incorporate outcomes
that are: responsive to and reflective of variations in care, and multi-faceted (with patient …