• D J Norton.
• J Neurosci Nurs. 1992 Dec 1; 24 (6): 354-8.

AbstractThe declaration of death by neurological criteria has become more commonly accepted and used within the medical community, especially within the past 10 years. There remains, however, a great deal of misunderstanding and lack of awareness among health care professionals as to the criteria used to determine brain death and the importance of adhering to brain death determination protocols. Youngner et al, in their 1989 survey, found more than one-third of surveyed physicians involved in the decision-making process for brain death were still unable to correctly identify and apply the whole brain criteria needed to determine brain death. To some degree, this unfamiliarity can perhaps be explained by the infrequency with which brain death occurs. Physicians and nurses are usually not involved in brain death pronouncements more than a few times each year. Because of this, hospitals need to develop and maintain brain death protocols which are in keeping with the most current scientific literature and accepted medical practice.

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