American journal of critical care : an official publication, American Association of Critical-Care Nurses
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Providing appropriate end-of-life care has become a primary concern of nurses and the public. The highly technological critical care environment may not facilitate such care. ⋯ Implementation of specific suggestions provided by experienced critical care nurses might increase the quality of end-of-life care, facilitating a good death for intensive care patients.
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Little information is available nationally about critical care units and nurses. What is known about nurses in hospitals is generally not broken down among all the specialties. ⋯ These survey data define the scope and intensity of services offered and provide more specific figures about staffing issues and unit practices than has been accessible before. Healthcare providers may use this information for benchmarking purposes, especially for instances in which the tables provide data for each particular type of critical care unit.