Palliative Care Activity in Critical 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.

Published in the Journal of Intensive Care. (2022)

Thematic Series Editor: Fumimasa Amaya (Associate Editor)
Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, Japan

All articles have undergone standard peer review process of the Journal of Intensive Care and have been subject to all of the journal’s standard policies. This includes the journal’s policy on competing interests. The Editors declare no competing interests with the submissions which they have handled through the peer review process.