Skip to main content

Palliative Care Activity in Critical Care


Article Collection edited by Fumimasa Amaya
This Thematic Series is published in the Journal of Intensive Care.

I learned about a lot of things in medical school, but mortality wasn’t one of them.
                              -Atul Gawande, Being Mortal, Introduction.

Palliative care improve the quality of life of patients and their families who are facing challenges associated with life-threatening illness, whether physical, psychological, social or spiritual (https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/palliative-care, accession date Dec 07, 2022). We are aware that there is a substantial need for palliative care for patients who require critical care. However, lack of sufficient information about palliative care makes it difficult to provide appropriate services.
The thematic issue, entitled "Palliative Care Activity in Critical Care" aims to fill the knowledge gap in this field.
Takaoka et al. describe the current practice of palliative care in cardiovascular intensive care. Ito et al. summarize recommended systems necessary for the implementation of palliative care. Igarashi et al. report the current status of palliative care delivery in Japan. Their survey shows that palliative care delivery in the critical care setting in Japan is insufficient.
We believe that this thematic issue will help our readers understand state-of-the-art information about patient-centered critical care.

Articles in this collection:
 

  1. Palliative care is an interdisciplinary care to optimize physical, psychosocial, and spiritual symptoms of patients and their families whose quality of life is impaired by serious, life-limiting illness. In 20...

    Authors: Kaori Ito, Naomi George, Jennifer Wilson, Jason Bowman, Emily Aaronson and Kei Ouchi
    Citation: Journal of Intensive Care 2022 10:20
    Content type: Review Published on:

  2. It is currently unknown how widespread is the practice of palliative care in intensive care units (ICUs) in Japan. This study aimed to determine evaluate the delivery and self-reported practice of palliative c...

    Authors: Yuko Igarashi, Yuta Tanaka, Kaori Ito, Mitsunori Miyashita, Satomi Kinoshita, Akane Kato and Yoshiyuki Kizawa
    Citation: Journal of Intensive Care 2022 10:18
    Content type: Research Published on:

  3. Healthcare providers working for cardiovascular intensive care often face challenges and they play an essential role in palliative care and end-of-life care because of the high mortality rates in the cardiac i...

    Authors: Yoshimitsu Takaoka, Yasuhiro Hamatani, Tatsuhiro Shibata, Shogo Oishi, Akemi Utsunomiya, Fujimi Kawai, Nobuyuki Komiyama and Atsushi Mizuno
    Citation: Journal of Intensive Care 2022 10:15
    Content type: Review Published on: