Ethics in the ICU.
The power to heal and create "good" in intensive care also stimulates great ethical conflict and discourse. Palliation and end of life issues in intensive care are beginning to be clearly defined and enhanced for the good of the patients. After decades of striving to save life to the very extreme, we are now providing that same effort toward end of life care. The last decade has brought consumerism or medicine's interpretation of such, far beyond any boundaries previously imagined. Issues of power, team communication, and family decision making strategies should hold a higher priority in the ICU. Empowered nurses in authority can make the key difference in when and how ethical resolutions occur.
Vittone
Sarah B
SB
Clinical Associate Faculty, The Catholic University of America, Washington, DC, USA. sarah@vittone.com
D003657:Decision Making; D026690:Ethics, Clinical; D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units / Q000592:standards*; D013727:Terminal Care / Q000592:standards*; D014481:United States