Integrating Palliative Care Screening in the Intensive Care Unit: A Quality Improvement Project

Activity Summary

Required reading for all learners: Implicit Bias impacts patient outcomes

Despite recommendations by the Center to Advance Palliative Care, palliative care remains underused, with variations in care delivery such as delayed consultation in the critical care setting. For this project, we identified a need to improve the palliative care process for patients admitted to the ICU in a community hospital in which palliative care consultation traditionally was at the discretion of the attending physician.

Objectives

Describe the benefits of early palliative care referral to identified hospitalized patients.
Identify patient risk factors for unmet palliative care needs.
Discuss implications for practice with implementation of a screening tool to improve patient access to palliative care services.

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.