Sue Mann1, David Galler, Pamela Williams, Paul Frost. 1. Clinical Charge Nurse, Department of Intensive Care Medicine, Middlemore Hospital, Auckland, New Zealand. smann@middlemore.co.nz
Abstract
AIM: To describe our experience of transporting 17 intensive care patients home to die. DESIGN: A brief report. SETTING: Mixed medical/surgical intensive care unit (ICU). RESULTS: After discussions with their families, 17 adult patients in whom ongoing care was deemed either inappropriate or futile were transported home. Once there, intensive care modalities of ventilation and vasopressor therapy were withdrawn. The patients were sedated initially with intravenous morphine and if death was not immediately imminent, subcutaneous morphine was administered. In these cases where death took longer than 2 hours, the patients were managed with the assistance of district nurses, the family general practitioner, or staff from the South Auckland Hospice. CONCLUSIONS: All the patients in this report were Maori or Polynesian and all families reported this as a positive experience. Since completion of this report, we have taken our first European patient home to die.
AIM: To describe our experience of transporting 17 intensive care patients home to die. DESIGN: A brief report. SETTING: Mixed medical/surgical intensive care unit (ICU). RESULTS: After discussions with their families, 17 adult patients in whom ongoing care was deemed either inappropriate or futile were transported home. Once there, intensive care modalities of ventilation and vasopressor therapy were withdrawn. The patients were sedated initially with intravenous morphine and if death was not immediately imminent, subcutaneous morphine was administered. In these cases where death took longer than 2 hours, the patients were managed with the assistance of district nurses, the family general practitioner, or staff from the South Auckland Hospice. CONCLUSIONS: All the patients in this report were Maori or Polynesian and all families reported this as a positive experience. Since completion of this report, we have taken our first European patient home to die.
Authors: Shaouli Shahid; Emma V Taylor; Shelley Cheetham; John A Woods; Samar M Aoun; Sandra C Thompson Journal: BMC Palliat Care Date: 2018-05-08 Impact factor: 3.234
Authors: Carl Rudolf Blankart; Kees van Gool; Irene Papanicolas; Enrique Bernal-Delgado; Nicholas Bowden; Francisco Estupiñán-Romero; Robin Gauld; Hannah Knight; Olukorede Abiona; Kristen Riley; Andrew J Schoenfeld; Kosta Shatrov; Walter P Wodchis; Jose F Figueroa Journal: Health Serv Res Date: 2021-09-07 Impact factor: 3.402