A significant proportion of patients in hospital die in intensive care. Most deaths in the unit occur after withdrawal or withholding of life-sustaining therapies when treatment plans have not benefited the patient. This allows time and opportunity to provide high-quality end of life care.
Many patients will not have the ability to express their wishes, values and preferences. Communication with those close to the patient is thus particularly important to better understand the wishes of the patient.
Effective end of life care involves:
- the prompt identification of patients at the end of life
- a shared approach to decision making with treatment and care which align with the patients’ values and preferences (including those previously expressed or documented if lacking capacity)2
- communication between teams and the patient/loved ones and symptom management.
