Perinatal Palliative Care in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

Abstract

With the frequency of infant deaths in the United States, many attributed to congenital malformations and prematurity, the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) nurse must be adept at planning and providing perinatal palliative care. The NICU nurse requires education and training to proficiently contribute to the care planning and delivery of care and facilitate memory-making activities. The provision of perinatal palliative care may precipitate moral distress and needs to be addressed with education and resilience-fostering activities. To further perinatal palliative care effectiveness, research needs to be conducted.