Obstacles and helpful behaviors in providing end-of-life care to dying patients in intensive care units.

Death can be difficult to accept, unimaginable, and unexpected. Critical care nurses are directly involved with patients and their families, and their experience can identify the best practices for end-of-life care. The purpose of this descriptive study was to identify the relative importance of helpful behaviors and obstacles that affect caring for dying patients and families in both adult and pediatric intensive care units as perceived by critical care nurses. The results show that for end-of-life care, nurses most strongly value factors that focus on the well-being of the family, and similar opinions were held by nurses from both adult and pediatric intensive care units.