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

Criteria for Awarding Contact Hours

Learners must complete the entire activity and the associated evaluation AND read Implicit Bias impacts patient outcomes. No partial credit will be awarded.

Accreditation

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 {contactHours} contact hours.

Disclosures

The Nurse Planner has determined that no individuals with the ability to control content of this activity have relevant relationships with ineligible companies.

Activities with pharmacotherapeutic credit are to assist the APRN in fulfilling their education requirements for licensure and certification renewals.

Refund Policy

Continuing Education Activities are nonrefundable.