The development and implementation of the Pathway for Improving the Care of the Dying in general medical wards.

The majority of deaths in Australia occur in general hospital wards and most are neither sudden nor unexpected. The Pathway for Improving the Care of the Dying (PICD) is an adaptation of the Liverpool Care Pathway to the Australian healthcare setting (or ‘to Australian conditions’) and is designed to help ensure a ‘good death’ for patients dying outside the palliative care system. PICD consists of a series of prompts, guidelines, revised medical and nursing care plans and a number of medication algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]