Talking to patients and their families about end-of-life issues can be difficult and stressful. End of Life Communication in the ICU looks at ways different cultures view death and then further explores how health care providers around the world communicate about such sensitive issues as withholding or withdrawing life support and discussing options when the outcome is uncertain. Through a better understanding of cultural differences in attitudes about death and methods of communications about end-of-life issues, practitioners can be better prepared to communicate with their own...

Intensive care medicine is one of the fastest growing services provided by hospitals and perhaps one of the most expensive. Yet in response to the global financial crisis of the last few years, healthcare funding is slowing or decreasing throughout the world.

How we manage health care resources in the intensive care unit (ICU) now and in a future that promises only greater cost constraints is the subject of this book, the third in an informal series of volumes providing a global perspective on difficult issues arising in the ICU....