The COVID-19 pandemic is one of the worst public health crises in a century, with an
expected amount of deaths of several million worldwide and an even bigger number of …

Background: The family response to critical illness includes development of adverse
psychological outcomes such as anxiety, acute stress disorder, posttraumatic stress …

Objectives: Shared decision making is endorsed by critical care organizations; however,
there remains confusion about what shared decision making is, when it should be used, and …

Background: There is controversy about how to manage requests by patients or surrogates
for treatments that clinicians believe should not be administered. Purpose: This multisociety …

Importance Family caregivers of patients with chronic critical illness experience significant
psychological distress. Objective To determine whether family informational and emotional …

Background: Clinical practice relies on surrogates to make or help to make treatment
decisions for incapacitated adults; however, the effect of this practice on surrogates has not …

Importance For critically ill patients with advanced medical illnesses and poor prognoses,
overuse of invasive intensive care unit (ICU) treatments may prolong suffering without …

Objectives: There is growing recognition that high-quality care for patients and families in the
ICU requires exemplary interprofessional collaboration and communication. One important …

The intensive care unit (ICU) is where patients are given some of the most technologically
advanced life-sustaining treatments, and where difficult decisions are made about the …

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 …