Practice Recommendations for End-of-Life Care in the Intensive Care Unit

Jensen, Hanne Irene PhD, MHSc, CCRN
Halvorsen, Kristin PhD, MNSc, CCRN
Jerpseth, Heidi PhD, MNSc, RN
Fridh, Isabell PhD, CCRN
Lind, Ranveig PhD, MHSc, CCRN

¹Hanne Irene Jensen is an associate professor at the Department of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care, Vejle and Middelfart Hospitals, Vejle, Denmark, and the University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark.
²Kristin Halvorsen is a professor and researcher and Heidi Jerpseth is an associate professor and researcher at Oslo Metropolitan University, Faculty of Health Sciences, Oslo, Norway.
³Isabell Fridh is an associate professor at the Faculty of Caring Science, Work Life and Social Welfare, University of Borås, Sweden.
⁴Ranveig Lind is an associate professor at UiT, the Arctic University of Norway, and a research nurse in the intensive care unit at University Hospital of North Norway, Tromsø, Norway.

Corresponding author: Hanne Irene Jensen, PHD, MHSc, CCRN, Department of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care, Vejle and Middelfart Hospitals, Beriderbakken 4, 7100 Vejle, Denmark (email:[email protected]).

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Critical Care Nurse 40(3):p 14-22, June 2020. | DOI: 10.4037/ccn2020834

Topic

A substantial number of patients die in the intensive care unit, so high-quality end-of-life care is an important part of intensive care unit work. However, end-of-life care varies because of lack of knowledge of best practices.

Clinical Relevance

Research shows that high-quality end-of-life care is possible in an intensive care unit. This article encourages nurses to be imaginative and take an individual approach to provide the best possible end-of-life care for patients and their family members.

Purpose of Paper

To provide recommendations for high-quality end-of-life care for patients and family members.

Content Covered

This article touches on the following domains: end-of-life decision-making, place to die, patient comfort, family presence in the intensive care unit, visiting children, family needs, preparing the family, staff presence, when the patient dies, after-death care of the family, and caring for staff.