The Support Project
To Improve Care at the End of Life
By Ben Achtenberg
with Christine Mitchell RN, FAAN

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's highly controversial SUPPORT Project attempted to improve the way seriously ill patients are cared for in American hospitals today. This short video is intended as an introduction to the SUPPORT Study and to its goals and findings. It touches on the complexity of the types of cases seen in the study, and offers an intriguing focus for debates on end-of-life decision making in healthcare. Produced for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Includes a collection of related articles from the Hastings Center.

Three addition programs filmed during the SUPPORT Project are also available:

Caring at the End of Life raises many key issues faced by patients and those who care for them, including the role of technology, deciding when to use or withdraw life-sustaining treatments, the importance of effective pain management, and the impact of patients' culture and community on care decisions.

Stanley examines complex issues about medical prognosis and religious belief in end-of-life decision making, and is particularly relevant to discussions about the concept of futility.

Discussing Advance Directives lets viewers share in the discussions of a nursing team and physician about the difficulties they encounter in working with patients on advance directives.

15 minutes
© 1996
Purchase $149 DVD
Order No. QA-177

Reviews
"Absolutely superb. I will be making this video a permanent part of my audiovisual library for both my undergraduate course on Death & Dying and my graduate course on Health Law." Gere B. Fulton, PhD, JD, University of Toledo

Awards & Conference Screenings
Special Recognition, American Academy of Nursing
American Medical Writers Association

Related Films
Stanley: This disturbing case study raises complex issues about medical prognosis and religious belief in end-of-life decision-making. Part of the Caring at the End of Life series.

Discussing Advance Directives: A nursing team and physician meet to discuss the difficulties they encounter in working with patients on advance directives. Part of the Caring at the End of Life series.

Caring at the End of Life: Based on six case studies of seriously ill hospitalized patients, this moving film focuses on the key roles of nursing staff in improving patient-clinician communication in end-of-life care.

The Journey Home: The candid stories of five patients exemplify the unique gifts of hope, relief, and dignity that hospice care programs offer to thousands of terminally ill patients each year.

Common Heroes: Follows the nurses, physicians, social workers and clergy who make up the hospice team, and demonstrates the ways they collaborate to help patients and families.

To rent or purchase this film, please visit the Icarus Films website

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