title: The going home initiative: getting critical care patients home with hospice.
abstract: Although considerable effort is being directed at providing patients and their families with a "good death," most patients in intensive care units, if given the choice, would prefer to die at home. With little guidance from the literature, the palliative care committee of an intensive care unit developed guidelines to get patients home from the intensive care unit to die. In the past few years, the unit has transferred many patients home with hospice care, much to the delight of their families. Although several obstacles to achieving this goal exist, the unit has achieved success in a small-scale implementation of its Going Home Initiative.
authors.affiliation: Baystate Medical Center, Springfield, Massachusetts, USA. paula.lusardi@bhs.org
authors.forename: Paula
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lusardi
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Jodka
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Stambovsky
authors.forename: Beth
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Stadnicki
authors.forename: Betty
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Babb
authors.forename: Danielle
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Plouffe
authors.forename: Nancy
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Doubleday
authors.forename: Zophia
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Pizlak
authors.forename: Katherine
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Walles
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Montonye
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001293:Attitude to Death; D003422:Critical Care; D005260:Female; D006699:Home Care Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D017051:Hospice Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units / Q000458:organization & administration*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010351:Patient Discharge; D057240:Patient Preference; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic