title: Defining end-of-life care from perspectives of nursing ethics.
abstract: Despite increasing interests and urgent needs for quality end-of-life care, there is no exact definition of what is the interval referred to as end of life or what end-of-life care is. The purpose of this article is to report our examination of terms related to end-of-life care and define end-of-life care from nursing ethics perspectives. Current terms related to end-of-life care, such as terminal care, hospice care, and palliative care, are based on a medical model and are restrictive in terms of diagnosis and prognosis. Using codes of ethics for nurses as a framework, we attempt to identify people to whom nurses are responsible to provide end-of-life care and develop a definition of end-of-life care that is more inclusive and applicable to a broader range of people who would benefit from end-of-life care by nurses and other health-care providers.
authors.affiliation: Washington State University, Spokane 99210-1495, USA. seiko.izumi@wsu.edu
authors.forename: Shigeko
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Izumi
authors.forename: Hiroko
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nagae
authors.forename: Chihoko
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sakurai
authors.forename: Emiko
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Imamura
mesh_terms: D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome; D004993:Ethics, Nursing; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000628:therapy; D017051:Hospice Care / Q000941:ethics*; D006801:Humans; D007392:International Council of Nurses; D007564:Japan; D016294:Models, Nursing; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy; D024802:Nurse's Role; D009732:Nursing Care / Q000592:standards*; D010166:Palliative Care; D057184:Practice Patterns, Nurses'; D013727:Terminal Care / Q000941:ethics; D009626:Terminology as Topic