Palliative care for terminally ill patients in the intensive care unit: Systematic review and metaanalysis

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The studies analyzed suggest that implementation of Palliative Care teams can reduce the suffering of patients receiving end-of-life care in an ICU and that of their family members, as this intervention leads to reduced mortality rates in the ICU and perhaps shorter lengths of stay. Transferring patients in end-of-life care from ICUs to palliative care units seems to generate a reduction in the use of costly procedures and intensive monitoring, and thus leads to overall cost savings, making effectivemanagement of the pain and suffering of patients and family members at the end of life more possible.

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