The Liverpool Care Pathway in intensive care: an exploratory study of doctor and nurse perceptions

The Liverpool Care Pathway (LCP) provides an evidence-based framework of care for the dying patient and provides guidance on comfort measures, discontinuation of inappropriate interventions, anticipatory prescribing, holistic care and care of the family after death. End-of-life care is becoming an important issue in critical care, and the LCP has been adapted for use in intensive care units in the United Kingdom. A qualitative study using descriptive phenomenology was used to explore doctor and nurse experiences of the impact of the LCP in two intensive care units in a 1000-bed teaching hospital in the north-west Midlands. The staff experience of the LCP was dependent on their role, with mixed reports about frequency of use and level of education received on the LCP. Education and adequate support was identified as being pivotal to the successful implementation of any type of LCP.