AJCC
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     

American Journal of Critical Care. 2006;15: 38-45
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Respond to This Article
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when eLetters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Right arrow Take the CE Test
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Beckstrand, R. L.
Right arrow Articles by Kirchhoff, K. T.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Beckstrand, R. L.
Right arrow Articles by Kirchhoff, K. T.

CE Article

Providing a "Good Death": Critical Care Nurses’ Suggestions for Improving End-of-Life Care

By Renea L. Beckstrand, RN, PhD, CCRN, Lynn Clark Callister, RN, PhD and Karin T. Kirchhoff, RN, PhD. From College of Nursing, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah (RLB, LCC), and University of Wisconsin at Madison, Madison Wis (KTK).

• Background Providing appropriate end-of-life care has become a primary concern of nurses and the public. The highly technological critical care environment may not facilitate such care.

• Objective To collect suggestions from critical care nurses for improving end-of-life care in intensive care units.

• Methods A geographically dispersed, random sample of 1409 members of the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses was sent a 72-item survey on perceptions of end-of life care. The survey included a request for suggestions on ways to improve end-of life care.

• Results Of the 861 critical care nurses who responded to the survey, 485 offered 530 suggestions for improving end-of-life care. Providing a "good death" was the major theme; specific suggestions included ways to help ensure death with dignity and peace. Barriers to providing good deaths included nursing time constraints, staffing patterns, communication challenges, and treatment decisions that were based on physicians’ rather than patients’ needs. Suggestions for providing a good death included facilitating dying with dignity; not allowing patients to be alone while dying; managing patients’ pain and discomfort; knowing, and then following, patients’ wishes for end-of-life care; promoting earlier cessation of treatment or not initiating aggressive treatment at all; and communicating effectively as a health-care team. Educational initiatives for professionals and the public were also suggested.

• Conclusions Implementation of specific suggestions provided by experienced critical care nurses might increase the quality of end-of-life care, facilitating a good death for intensive care patients.

Notice to CE enrollees:A closed-book, multiple-choice examination following this article tests your understanding of the following objectives:
  1. Discuss defining criteria of a "good death" by critical care nurses.
  2. Discuss barriers to providing death with dignity in a critical care environment.
  3. Discuss additional identified research opportunities to provide a "good death" in critical care environments.




This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Crit Care NurseHome page
M. R. Shirey and M. L. Fisher
Leadership Agenda for Change Toward Healthy Work Environments in Acute and Critical Care
Crit. Care Nurse, October 1, 2008; 28(5): 66 - 78.
[Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Crit Care NurseHome page
S. Wingate and D. L.-M. Wiegand
End-of-Life Care in the Critical Care Unit for Patients With Heart Failure
Crit. Care Nurse, April 1, 2008; 28(2): 84 - 94.
[Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Nurs EthicsHome page
K. S Thacker
Nurses' Advocacy Behaviors in End-of-Life Nursing Care
Nursing Ethics, March 1, 2008; 15(2): 174 - 185.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 AM J HOSP PALLIAT CAREHome page
T. Hughes, M. Schumacher, J. M. Jacobs-Lawson, and S. Arnold
Confronting Death: Perceptions of a Good Death in Adults With Lung Cancer
American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, March 1, 2008; 25(1): 39 - 44.
[Abstract] [PDF]


HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Copyright © 2006 by the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses.