ReviewIndian journal of palliative care
Defining a Good Death in the Intensive Care Unit: A Systematic Review.
Review in Indian journal of palliative care. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Making Sense of the Final Moments: A Qualitative Study of Informal Caregivers' Perception of Good Death in the Bereavement Process.Scandinavian journal of caring sciences · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Understanding the definition of a good death in the intensive care unit (ICU) is crucial for the effective implementation of end-of-life care. Existing reviews often focus on terminal patients and overlook the ICU setting. This study aimed to investigate the definitions of a good death in the ICU. The systematic review followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses 2020 guidelines and was registered with PROSPERO. The database searched included PubMed, ScienceDirect and EBSCOhost. Inclusion criteria encompassed English-language quantitative or qualitative studies published from inception until August 30, 2024, that reported definitions of a good death in the ICU and were available in full text. Exclusion criteria included studies that focused exclusively on euthanasia. The risk of bias was assessed using the Joanna Briggs Institute Critical Appraisal Checklist for quantitative or qualitative studies, and a narrative synthesis was performed. Definitions were categorised into themes and subthemes, with the frequency of each theme determined from the perspectives of patients, family members and healthcare professionals (HCPs). Thirty-five high-quality studies were included, with 60% of the articles representing family members perspectives. We identified five themes of a good death: Being free from suffering, withdrawing and withholdinglife-sustaining technologies in ICU settings, privacy, family involvement, and receiving spiritual and cultural support. However, discrepancies among the respondent groups were noted in the core themes: Family members emphasised being free from suffering, while patients reported family involvement more frequently. HCPs highlighted the importance of spiritual and cultural support. This review highlights the definitions of a good death in the ICU. These findings can aid HCPs in gaining a better understanding of a good death in the ICU. Future research should focus on determining the factors influencing a good death.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.