title: Enabling ICU patients to die at home.
abstract: There is often an overlap between intensive care medicine and palliative medicine. When all curative treatment options have been explored, keeping the patient comfortable and free from pain is the main concern for healthcare practitioners. Patient autonomy in end of life decisions has not been encouraged in the intensive care unit (ICU), until now, because of its specialised and technical nature. Staff at the Royal Bolton Hospital have broken down the barriers to enabling ICU patients to die in their own homes, and have developed a system of collaborative working that can help to fulfil a patient's final wish to go home. This article describes how ICU staff developed a process that enabled two ventilated patients to be transferred home for end of life care.
authors.affiliation: Intensive care unit, Bolton Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Bolton, Lancashire.
authors.forename: Emma
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Battle
authors.forename: Lucy
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bates
authors.forename: Emma
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Liderth
authors.forename: Samantha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.forename: Sheryl
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sheen
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ginty
authors.forename: Melanie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Northmore
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D003643:Death; D005260:Female; D017051:Hospice Care; D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units; D010166:Palliative Care; D010360:Patient Transfer; D006113:United Kingdom
keywords: Death; end of life care; intensive care; nursing; palliative care