Program

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Poster E: Wishing Well Implementation in Critical Care (13:15)

May 26, 2023 from 12:30pm EDT to 1:30pm EDT

Poster E: Wishing Well Implementation in Critical Care - 13:15

 

Given the high mortality rate with heart failure, coupled with the burnout associated with the pandemic, the cardiac and critical care units at St. Paul’s Hospital, Vancouver BC, decided to implement the Wishing Well (WW) project in March 2021. The WW is based on the research conducted by Deborah Cook et al in 2015. The project goals aim to humanize the dying process for the patients, families, and the health care team. The premise is to “grant a wish” for the patient and families who are imminently dying in critical care, hoping to provide comfort, meaning and compassion to end of life care. The wishes granted could be simply playing music in the patient’s room, or complex as renewal of wedding vows or making a keepsake.

We describe how we used the Canadian Institutes of Health Research’s 4 elements of knowledge translation: 1. Synthesis, 2. Dissemination, 3. Exchange and 4. Ethically-sound application of knowledge, to successfully adapt and implement the WW project into our program.

This discussion would set as an example of knowledge translation in action and illustrate the successes and challenges in implementing WW across 3 distinct critical care populations: the intensive care unit (ICU), cardiac ICU, and cardiac surgery ICU. Additionally, this project has provided clinicians and families solace in a time of difficulty, especially during the pandemic, and the learnings from our experience would be beneficial to other programs across the country.

Speakers / Panelists