Comments on Pallimed: A Hospice & Palliative Medicine Blog: ICU Delirium & Prognosis

This is exactly why I have been trying to grow the...

2010-03-16T14:35:44.639-05:00

This is exactly why I have been trying to grow the number of PCRN's (Palliative Care Resource Nurses) in our ICU's. These nurses have had good palliative care education and are expected to be advocates for their patients, their families, and co-workers.

The good and bad of it is that this is a true front-line bedside effort that continues to succesfully grow...
The bad is that we have no real buy-in from the powers that be (administration/management/physicians) and so it limits their power which limits their ability to make the impact they should be making...

But it's a start to trying to get palliative care to co-exist with critical care...

Thanks Jerry.

2009-09-28T21:17:54.062-05:00

Thanks Jerry.

I gotta make more regular visits to your site, Dre...

2009-09-27T13:08:18.051-05:00

I gotta make more regular visits to your site, Drew. You folks do really good work.

I'm glad to have found this here. My ICU colleagues and I get so focused on the immediate challenges that we lose sight of the larger picture.

I agree that it's appropriate and essential to use an ICU stay for high-risk patients as the opportunity to open up the patient and family's thinking about what's possible/likely in the weeks/months ahead.

I had the chance to meet/hear Wes Ely at an ICU grand rounds presentation here about 18 months ago, and it was one of those professional-life-changing events for me.

I'm going to use this post as the basis for the next one of my own.

Thanks