End-of-Life Care

You raise an excellent point. The shortcoming of the evolving definition of end-of-life care is that it excludes postmortem care by some researchers. The author Kathleen A. Puntillo's chapter "The Role of Critical Care Nurses in Providing and Managing End-of Life Care in the Book Managing Death in the Intensive Care Unit" stating "Nursing activities with family members of dying patients include the involvement of willing members to assist with post-mortem" further supports my inclusion of postmortem care. The beginning and end of end-of-life care are yet to be defined. This debate is ongoing and welcomes further discussion.

Maureen T. Martaler, RN, MS