Wednesday 27 August 2014

Diagnosing dying: an integrative literature review

BMJ Supportive and Palliative Care 2014;Vol/iss 4/2, (263-270)
Catriona Kennedy; Patricia Brooks-Young; Carol Brunton Gray; Phil Larkin;  Michael Connolly; Bodil Wilde-Larsson; Maria Larsson; Tracy Smith; Susie Chater

The aim of this review was to examine the evidence as to how patients are judged by clinicians as being in the final hours or days of life.The findings support the explicit recognition of ‘uncertainty in diagnosing dying’ and the need to work with and within this concept. Clinical decision making needs to allow for recovery where that potential exists, but equally there is the need to avoid futile interventions

Full text  available in BMJ Supportive and Palliative Care
Available in print in Arthur Rank House Library, Brookfields Hospital