Palliative Care in the Intensive Care Unit: Past, Present, and Future

James Downar; May Hua; Hannah Wunsch

doi:10.1016/j.ccc.2023.01.007

Palliative Care in the Intensive Care Unit: Past, Present, and Future

Crit Care Clin. 2023 Jul;39(3):529-539. doi: 10.1016/j.ccc.2023.01.007.

Authors

James Downar¹, May Hua², Hannah Wunsch³

Affiliations

¹ Division of Palliative Care, Department of Medicine, University of Ottawa, 43 Rue Bruyere, Suite 268J, Ottawa K1N 5C8, Canada; Department of Critical Care, The Ottawa Hospital, 1053 Carling Avenue, Ottawa, ON K1Y 4E9, Canada. Electronic address: [email protected].
² Department of Anesthesiology, Columbia University, 622 West 168th Street, New York, NY 10032, USA; Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, 722 West 168th Street, New York, NY 10032, USA.
³ Department of Critical Care Medicine, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, 2075 Bayview Avenue, Toronto, ON M4N 3M5, Canada; Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine and Interdepartmental Division of Critical Care Medicine, University of Toronto, 2075 Bayview Avenue, Room D1.08, Toronto, Ontario M4N 3M5, Canada.

PMID: 37230554
DOI: 10.1016/j.ccc.2023.01.007

Abstract

In this article, the authors review the origins of palliative care within the critical care context and describe the evolution of symptom management, shared decision-making, and comfort-focused care in the ICU from the 1970s to the early 2000s. The authors also review the growth of interventional studies in the past 20 years and indicate areas for future study and quality improvement for end-of-life care among the critically ill.

Keywords: Advance care planning; Critical care; History of medicine; Palliative care; Review.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Critical Care
Humans
Intensive Care Units
Palliative Care*
Quality Improvement
Terminal Care*