Nurse-physician perspectives on the care of dying patients in intensive care units: Collaboration, moral distress, and ethical climate*

To explore registered nurses’ and attending physicians’ perspectives on caring for dying patients in intensive care units (ICUs), with particular attention to the relationships among moral distress, ethical climate, physician/nurse collaboration, and satisfaction with quality of care.

Descriptive pilot study using a survey design.

Fourteen ICUs in two institutions in different regions of Virginia. Subjects: Twenty-nine attending physicians who admitted patients to the ICUs and 196 registered nurses engaged in direct patient care. Interventions: Survey questionnaire. Measurements and Main Results: At the first site, registered nurses reported lower collaboration (p