A Multidisciplinary Team-Based Approach to Improve Communication With Surrogates of Patients With Chronic Critical Illness.

Background: Clinicians need to deliver prognostic information to surrogates of nondecisional, critically ill patients so that surrogates can make informed medical decisions that reflect the patient's values. Our objective was to implement a new approach for communicating with surrogates of patients with chronic critical illness.

Methods: Surrogate decision makers of patients who were difficult to liberate from mechanical ventilation were prospectively enrolled.

What Do Chaplains Do: The Views of Palliative Care Physicians, Nurses, and Social Workers.

It is well accepted that attention to spiritual concerns is a core dimension of palliative care. It is similarly well accepted that chaplains are the spiritual care specialists who should address such concerns. However, what chaplains do when they provide care for patients and families is often poorly understood by their palliative care colleagues.

Integration of Palliative Care Advanced Practice Nurses Into Intensive Care Unit Teams.

Background: Referrals to palliative care for patients at the end of life in the intensive care unit (ICU) often happen late in the ICU stay, if at all. The integration of a palliative medicine advanced practice nurse (APN) is one potential strategy for proactively identifying patients who could benefit from this service.

Objective: To evaluate the association between the integration of palliative medicine APNs into the routine operations of ICUs and hospital costs at 2 different institutions, Montefiore Medical Center (MMC) and Rush University Medical Center.