Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T07:11:06.390Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

55 - Care of the Dying Patient

from Section 12 - End of Life

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 November 2023

By
Ashley Shreves
Edited by
Kaushal Shah  and
Jarone Lee
Edited in association with
Clark G. Owyang  and
Benjamin Christian Renne
Kaushal Shah
Affiliation:
Weill Cornell Medical Center, New York
Jarone Lee
Affiliation:
Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston
Clark G. Owyang
Affiliation:
Weill Cornell Medical Center, New York
Benjamin Christian Renne
Affiliation:
Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston
Get access

Summary

  • Palliative medicine focuses on maximizing the quality of life of patients with serious illnesses. For many patients in the critical care setting, the best medical treatments and technologies are unable to reverse advanced disease processes, as evidenced by the fact that 20% of Americans died in or after ICU care. Even when treatments can prolong life, they may not ultimately allow patients to achieve a quality of life acceptable to them. Functional and cognitive independence are highly valued by patients and yet most chronically, critically ill patients never live independently again. Honest, transparent, empathetic communication is the cornerstone of determining how to deliver effective, patient-centered medical care for these patients.

Keywords

palliative careend of lifewithdrawal of caretrajectory of dyinggoals of careorgan donation
Type
Chapter
Information
Practical Emergency Resuscitation and Critical Care , pp. 591 - 597
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Angus, DC, & Barnato, AE. Use of intensive care at the end of life in the United States: an epidemiologic study. Crit Care Med 2004;32:638–643.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Camhi, SL, & Mercado, AF. Deciding in the dark: advance directives and continuation of treatment in chronic critical illness. Crit Care Med 2009;37:919–925.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cooke, CR, & Hotchkin, DL. Predictors of time to death after terminal withdrawal of mechanical ventilation in the ICU. Chest 2010;138:289–297.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kompanje, EJ, & van der Hoven, B. Anticipation of distress after discontinuation of mechanical ventilation in the ICU at the end of life. Intensive Care Med 2008;34:1593–1599.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mularski, RA, & Heine, CE. Quality of dying in the ICU: ratings by family members. Chest 2005;128:280–282.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nelson, JE, & Puntillo, KA. In their own words: patients and families define high-quality palliative care in the intensive care unit. Crit Care Med 2010;38:808–818.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Prendergast, TJ, & Claessens, MT. A national survey of end-of-life care for critically ill patients. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 1998;158:1163–1167.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rocker, GM, & Heyland, DK. Most critically ill patients are perceived to die in comfort during withdrawal of life support: a Canadian multicentre study. Can J Anaesth 2004;51:623–630.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wall, RJ, & Curtis, JR. Family satisfaction in the ICU: differences between families of survivors and nonsurvivors. Chest 2007;132:1425–1433.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×