Journal of pain and symptom management
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Apr 2009
The end-of-life care experiences of relatives of brain dead intensive care patients.
Brain death is a traumatic and sudden event following a severe injury to the brain. Most patients with brain death spend the last days of life in an intensive care unit (ICU), where some families will be approached to ask for organ donation. This qualitative study was carried out with relatives of patients who had died of brain death in an ICU; all relatives were interviewed six months after the death. ⋯ Bereavement follow-up did not routinely occur, and this was an identified factor noted by relatives. Families living through the period of brain death in a loved one may have particular needs in terms of end-of-life care and should be offered the support of a palliative care team through the last days of a patient's life and into the period of bereavement. Staff training on how to communicate bad news also should be implemented as a matter of urgency.