KSCCM
Articles
- Page Path
- HOME > Acute Crit Care > Volume 28(3); 2013 > Article
- Review The End-of-Life Care in the Intensive Care Unit
- Jae Young Moon, Yong Sup Shin
-
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4266/kjccm.2013.28.3.163
2Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Chungnam National University College of Medicine, Daejeon, Korea. ysshin@cnu.ac.kr
- 3,421 Views
- 152 Download
- 8 Crossref
- 0 Scopus
Abstract
The intensive care units (ICUs) provide the best possible medical care to help critically ill patients survive acute threats to their lives. At the same time, the ICU is also the most common place to die. Thus the ICU clinicians should be competent in all aspects for end-of-life (EOL) care. The quality of EOL care in Korean ICUs do not ensure ICU patient's autonomy and dignity at their end-of-life. For examples, several studies present that do-not-resuscitate (DNR) orders are only initiated when the patient's death in imminent. To improve understanding EOL care of terminally ill patients, we summarize 'Recommendations for EOL care in the ICU by the American College of Critical Care Medicine' and 'Consensus guidelines to withdrawing life-sustaining therapies endorsed by Korean Academy of Medical Science'. EOL care will be emerging as a comprehensive area of expertise in Korean ICUs. The ICU clinicians must strive to find the barriers for EOL care in the ICU and develop their processes to improve the care of EOL.
Cite
