Improving Family Intensive Care Unit Experiences at the End of Life: Barriers and Facilitators

Activity Summary

The past 5 to 10 years have seen a groundswell of literature on the experiences of family members of intensive care unit patients at the end of life. An important role of critical care nurses is to help family members through this challenging period. This article highlights a few clinically significant barriers and facilitators related to improving family experiences at the patient’s end of life that have received less attention in the literature thus far.

Objectives

Describe how nurses can facilitate family ICU experiences at end-of-life.
Describe some of the barriers to positive family ICU experiences at end-of-life.
Describe interventions that nurses as members of the healthcare team can take in order to improve family ICU experiences at end-of-life.

Continuing Education Disclosure Statement

Successful Completion

Learners must attend/view/read the entire activity, read Implicit Bias impacts patient outcomes, and complete the associated evaluation to be awarded the contact hours or CERP. No partial credit will be awarded.

Accreditation

The American Association of Critical-Care Nurses is accredited as a provider of nursing continuing professional development by the American Nurses Credentialing Center's Commission on Accreditation.

Provider approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing, Provider number CEP 1036, for 1.00 contact hours.

Accreditation refers to recognition of continuing education only and does not imply AACN, ANCC, or CBRN approval or endorsement of any commercial products discussed or displayed in conjunction with this educational activity.

Disclosure

Any relevant relationship between an ineligible company and an individual with the ability to influence clinical content will be identified by the Nurse Planner within the activity. Any relevant relationship between an ineligible company and an individual with the ability to influence clinical content has been mitigated.

AACN programming meets the standards for most states that require mandatory continuing education contact hours for license and/or certification renewal. AACN recommends consulting with your state board of nursing or credentialing organization before submitting CE to fulfill continuing education requirements.

Refund Policy

Continuing Education Activities are nonrefundable.