Each year, there are almost 200,000 admissions to the intensive care unit (ICU)in Australia and New Zealand.

With the continued rise in our ageing population, over 50% of Australians now die in hospitals. Approximately 75% of Australians will present at least once to the emergency department (ED) in the last 2 years of life, and will have an average of 4 acute admissions in the last 12months of life. End of life care, particularly during an acute hospital admission, can be complex and performed sub optimally.

The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care developed a National Consensus Statement which aims to provide a framework for a best practice approach.

The National Consensus Statement involves 10 guiding principles, in which 5 arespecifically relevant to clinician provision:
(1) recognising end of life
(2) person-centred communication and shared decision making
(3) multidisciplinary collaboration and coordination of care
(4) comprehensive care and
(5)responding to concerns.

The aim of this study was to evaluate current practices against the principles of the National Consensus Statement and identify further areas of improvement.