Critical care nursing update: ethical considerations & the role of family in the ICU

Ethical challenges are part of everyday ICU nursing — particularly when family views conflict with clinical decisions or cultural and religious beliefs influence patient management or end-of-life care. In this final session of the Critical Care Nursing Update Series, we’ll explore how to manage complex ethical situations, and support families during difficult decision-making about the care of their loved ones.

Why you should attend

Critical care is a uniquely complex setting for ethical decision-making. Life-sustaining treatments, sudden deterioration, and unconscious patients mean decisions regularly need to be made on behalf of others - often under time pressures. Common dilemmas include:

• continuing or withdrawing life sustaining treatment 

• disagreements between family members and treating teams

• balancing resource allocation and patient needs

• managing patients with no advance care directives or substitute decision maker

ICU nurses are a constant presence at the bedside. We advocate, interpret, witness suffering, and support families during some of the hardest decisions of their lives. Our bedside care includes a clinical, compassionate, and empathetic approach to ethical decision making. There is often conflict between decision-makers; nurses are commonly the go-between or advocates in these situations. These complexities will be discussed during the interactive case-based webinar focussing on:

• The dilemma of continuing futile life-sustaining care in the ICU

• Family conflict over withdrawal of care and treatment options

• Cultural and religious considerations in ethical decisions

• Communication breakdowns in ethically complex cases

What our previous participants said about the course:

"Relevant to those working within the ICU setting. Will help me provide up to date care to patients and families"

"The case scenarios were real and relevant to what patient presentations I see in my work place"

"This course was done very sensitively and informative"

"The information was clear, relevant and presented at a nice pace"

This is a Medcast Continuing Medical Education (CME) course.