Managing Death in the ICU

This is a ground-breaking collection of essays examining death and dying in the intensive care unit... It is the first book I have seen that makes explicit the parallels between palliative and intensive care, and one of the best examples I have encountered of interdisciplinary collaboration in aid of a common goal between nurses, physicians, oncologists, bio-ethicists and intensivists...I wholeheartedly recommend this book - not only to those with a specific intensive care interest, but to anyone who wishes to understand and improve the care of dying people in hospital environments.

• SECTION I: THE CHANGING LANDSCAPE OF DEATH IN THE ICU ; 1. Introducing the concept of managing death in the ICU ; 2. The changing ethics of death in the ICU ; 3. The changing nature of death in the ICU ; 4. Making a personal relatinship with death ; SECTION II: THE DECISION TO LIMIT LIFE SUPPORT IN THE ICU ; 5. Outcome prediction in the ICU ; 6. Decision-making and the role of bias ; 7. The role of health status and quality of life in decisions about ICU care ; 8. Advance care planning in the outpatient and ICU setting ; SECTION III: PRACTICAL SKILLS NEEDED TO MANAGE DEATH IN THE ICU ; 9. How to discuss dying and death in the ICU ; 10. Managnig pain and other symptoms in dying patients in the ICU ; 11. Principles and practice of withdrawing life sustaining treatment in the ICU ; 12. The Role of critical care nurses in providing and managing end-of-life care ; 13. Helping families prepare for and cope with a death in the ICU ; 14. Helping the clinician cope with death in the ICU ; 15. The interface of technology and spriituality in the ICU ; 16. Sacred end-of-life rituals in the ICU ; SECTION IV: SOCIETAL ISSUES ; 17. Role of race, ethnicity, religion, and socioeconomic status on end-of-life care in the ICU ; 18. Legal liability anxieties in the ICU ; 19. Economics of managing death in te ICU ; 20. Organizational change and improving the quality of palliative care in the ICU ; 21. An interantional perspective on death in the ICU ; SECTION V: SPECIFIC DISEASES AND SPECIAL POPULATIONS ; 22. AIDS ; 23. Cancer ; 24. Congestive heart failure ; 25. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease ; 26. Decisions to limit intensive care in patients with coma ; 27. Special concerns for infants and children ; 28. Special Concerns for the very old