Chest ACCP Member Benefits
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     

Guest Access | Sign In via User Name/Password
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF) Free
Right arrow Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when eLetters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Article Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Field, B. E.
Right arrow Articles by Carlson, R. W.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Field, B. E.
Right arrow Articles by Carlson, R. W.

Chest, Vol 96, 353-356, Copyright © 1989 by American College of Chest Physicians

ARTICLES

Impact of a comprehensive supportive care team on management of hopelessly ill patients with multiple organ failure

BE Field, LE Devich and RW Carlson
Department of Medicine, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit.

We developed a supportive care team for hopelessly ill patients in an urban emergency/trauma hospital. The team includes a clinical nurse specialist and a faculty physician as well as a chaplain and social worker. The supportive care team provides an alternative to intensive care or conventional ward management of hopelessly ill patients and concentrates on the physical and psychosocial comfort needs of patients and their families. We describe our experience with 20 hopelessly ill patients with multiple organ failure vs a similar group treated before the development of the supportive care team. Although there was no difference in mortality (100 percent), the length of stay in the medical ICU for patients with multiple organ failure decreased by 12 days to 6 days. Additionally, there were 50 percent fewer therapeutic interventions provided by the supportive care team vs intensive care or conventional ward treatment of multiple organ failure patients. We describe the methods that the supportive care team uses in an attempt to meet the physical and psychosocial comfort needs of hopelessly ill multiple organ failure patients and their families. This multidisciplinary approach to the care of the hopelessly ill may have applications in other institutions facing the ethical, medical, and administrative challenges raised by these patients.


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 AM J HOSP PALLIAT CAREHome page
J. D. Cowan
Hospital charges for a community inpatient palliative care program
American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, May 1, 2004; 21(3): 177 - 190.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 ChestHome page
M. L. Campbell and J. A. Guzman
Impact of a Proactive Approach to Improve End-of-Life Care in a Medical ICU
Chest, January 1, 2003; 123(1): 266 - 271.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Crit Care NurseHome page
J. S. Leske
Interventions to Decrease Family Anxiety
Crit. Care Nurse, December 1, 2002; 22(6): 61 - 65.
[Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 AM J HOSP PALLIAT CAREHome page
A. Ryan, J. Carter, J. Lucas, and J. Berger
You need not make the journey alone: Overcoming impediments to providing palliative care in a public urban teaching hospital
American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, May 1, 2002; 19(3): 171 - 180.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 Arch SurgHome page
I. H. Chaudry
Sepsis: Lessons Learned in the Last Century and Future Directions
Arch Surg, September 1, 1999; 134(9): 922 - 929.
[Full Text] [PDF]


HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Copyright © 1989 by the American College of Chest Physicians.