Recommendations on palliative care aspects in intensive care medicine
DGIIN/DIVI/DGP/DEGAM + Swiss societies · 2023 · Germany
Source and licence
- Authors
- Guido Michels, Manuela Schallenburger, Martin Neukirchen et al.
- Title
- Recommendations on palliative care aspects in intensive care medicine
- Journal
- Critical Care, 2023
- Licence
- CC BY 4.0
- Changes
- Verbatim excerpts; formatting adapted
Full text retrieved 2026-10-27 from Europe PMC · PMC10506254
Licence statement of the original publication
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Recommendations
We found no explicitly labelled recommendations in this publication; its recommendations are in the running text of the original.
Abstract
Background: The timely integration of palliative care is important for patients suffering from various advanced diseases with limited prognosis. While a German S-3-guideline on palliative care exists for patients with incurable cancer, a recommendation for non-oncological patients and especially for integration of palliative care into intensive care medicine is missing to date.
Method: Ten German medical societies worked on recommendations on palliative care aspects in intensive care in a consensus process from 2018 to 2023.
Results: Based on the german consensus paper, the palliative care aspects of the respective medical disciplines concerning intensive care are addressed. The recommendations partly refer to general situations, but also to specific aspects or diseases, such as geriatric issues, heart or lung diseases, encephalopathies and delirium, terminal renal diseases, oncological diseases and palliative emergencies in intensive care medicine. Measures such as non-invasive ventilation for symptom control and compassionate weaning are also included.
Conclusion: The timely integration of palliative care into intensive care medicine aims to improve quality of life and symptom control and also takes into acccount the often urgently needed support for patients’ highly stressed relatives.
Contents of the original publication
The section headings of the original.
- Background
- Methodology and aims of the consensus paper
- Results and recommendations
- General recommendations
- Components of palliative care
- Palliative care aspects in geriatric patients
- Palliative care aspects in patients with terminal heart failure
- Palliative care aspects in ventilation therapy
- Ventilation therapy by patients with advanced non-oncological diseases
- NIV for symptom reduction
- Patients with home mechanical ventilation
- Palliative care aspects in patients with terminal lung disease
- Palliative care aspects in patients with hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy and delirium
- Palliative care aspects in patients with terminal renal diseases (dialysis requirement)
- Palliative care aspects in patients with hematological/oncological diseases
- Management of palliative emergencies
- Conclusions
- Contributor Information
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