University of Wisconsin–Madison

Tag: end of life care

End-of-Life Decisions: What You Say and When You Say It Matter

Decisions about medical treatments towards the end of life are often difficult. Patients may be in pain as they and their family members struggle to understand options and come to agreement. Poor decisions may unintentionally reduce quality of life for very ill people. As an ICU nurse and researcher, Kristen Pecanac, PhD, RN is familiar …

Being Mortal: Nursing and What Matters in the End

“Once I’d seen the transformation of elder care under way, I was struck by the simple insight on which it rested, and by its profound implications for medicine, including what happens in my own office,” surgeon and author Atul Gawande writes in his latest book, Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End. Through …