Palliative care in ICUs
13th May 2026
Intensive care units (ICUs) are increasingly managing patients with greater clinical complexity and life-limiting conditions. Despite evidence on the effectiveness of palliative care integration models in the ICU setting, the specific characteristics for integration remain poorly articulated and insufficiently understood.
A recent systematic review of the evidence highlighted that early palliative care, integrated alongside active treatment and not just at the end-of-life, can significantly improve outcomes for both patients and their families.
In this study, published in International Journal of Nursing Studies Advances, the researchers set out to map the key characteristics of palliative care integration models in adult ICUs.
Looking at previous global evidence, the team identified literature from 10,000 sources on the integration of palliative care in ICU, to establish the key characteristics essential for integrating palliative care in ICU.
The characteristics they identified were:
Screening criteria: using structured tools to identify patients who may benefit from early palliative care alongside ongoing treatment.
Embedded daily practices: routines focused on symptom assessment, timely family meetings, and proactive palliative care evaluation of the needs of patients and families.
Education and training: targeted programmes to strengthen ICU clinicians’ understanding of palliative care.
Specialist palliative care collaboration: joint rounding, embedded palliative nurse practitioners, and coordinated teamwork between ICU and specialist palliative care teams.
The scoping review can be used by clinicians, healthcare providers and policymakers to inform service development, implementation strategy, standardisation, and policy decisions.
A further study surveyed 105 ICU professionals and 48 palliative care specialists about palliative care in ICUs. Everyone who responded felt that palliative care was part of their normal work. Obstacles to integrating palliative care in the ICU included the availability of resources, leadership support and education.
King Y, May P, Whyte B, Tiernan E, Brady AM. Key Characteristics of Palliative Care Integration in Intensive Care Units (ICUs): A Scoping Review. Int J Nurs Stud Adv (2026). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnsa.2026.100535
Meddick-Dyson SA, Finch T, Boland JW, Pearson M, Bradshaw A, Murtagh FEM. Implementing Palliative Care in Intensive Care Units: Assessing Processes Using The Normalisation Process Theory NoMAD Instrument. Implement Sci Commun (2026). https://doi.org/10.1186/s43058-026-00945-8