Precautionary planning at the end of life from an intensive care perspective

In den vergangenen Jahren hat die Zahl intensivmedizinischer Behandlungen am Lebensende in beachtlichem Umfang zugenommen. Mittlerweise hat etwa jeder 4. Patient, der im Krankenhaus stirbt, zuvor eine Intensivtherapie erhalten 1 . Diese Tatsache macht deutlich, wie wichtig eine Vorsorgeplanung aus intensivmedizinischer Sicht ist, um den Therapiewunschen am Lebensende moglichst zu entsprechen. Abstract In recent years, the number of intensive care treatments has increased significantly. About every fourth patient who dies in hospital receives intensive care. Structured prevention planning is important in order to implement the patient's wishes in situations of serious illness in which patients cannot express their wishes themselves. However, the implementation in practice can be problematic since intensive care situations are complex and rarely correspond to the concrete pre-arranged situations. Communication of the prognosis and the prognostic uncertainty is therefore crucial in order to determine the presumed will of the patient, especially in the context of the process of weighing up the benefits and burdens of intensive care therapies. Hospital treatment can be the reason for targeted preventive planning and avoid unnecessary intensive care treatment during the same stay. Documentation templates can help to record the results of preventive care planning clearly and comprehensibly in the medical file.