Center to Advance Palliative Care

I am not aware of any hospitals surveying EOL care during the ICU stay. There have been several excellent articles in recent years about what constitutes quality care in the ICU. The quality indicators that are mentioned in the articles could then be translated into a survey tool. If possible, I would choose evidenced based indicators of quality and then compare the outcomes to the research. The articles below are references for what you may find. Dr. Judith Nelson has also done some excellent writing about quality palliative care and communication in the ICU.

Experiences of Families in the Neurological ICU: A "Bedside Phenomenon"

Pikka Lam; Marcia Beaulieu
J Neurosci Nurs 36(3):142-155, 2004. © 2004 American Association of Neuroscience Nurses

Experiences of Families in the Neurological ICU: A "Bedside Phenomenon"

Palliative Care in the Surgical ICU
Anne Charlotte Mosenthal, MD, FACS
Division Surgical Critical Care, New Jersey Medical School,
University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey-University Hospital,
150 Bergen Street, Mezzanine 233, Newark, NJ 07103, USA
Surgical Clinics of North America

Sharol Herr, RN, BSN, MSEd, CHPN; Nurse Clinician/Education Coordinator; Mount Carmel Health Palliative Care Leadership Center; Columubs, Ohio.