Despite increasing interests and urgent needs for quality end-of-life care, there is no exact definition of what is the interval referred to as end of life or what end-of-life care is. The purpose of this article is to report our examination of terms related to end-of-life care and define end-of-life care from nursing ethics perspectives. Current terms related to end-of-life care, such as terminal care, hospice care, and palliative care, are based on a medical model and are restrictive in terms of diagnosis and prognosis. Using codes of ethics for nurses as a framework, we attempt to identify people to whom nurses are responsible to provide end-of-life care and develop a definition of end-of-life care that is more inclusive and applicable to a broader range of people who would benefit from end-of-life care by nurses and other health-care providers.

and did not feel susceptible to risk of death during hospitalization. Many believed they were asked in order to legally protect the provider. Some participants did not feel a need to speak with a physician about their end-of-life care preferences. Conclusion. A large number of older patients may not be able to participate in inpatient ACP discussions. Older patients' experiences with inpatient ACP may be characterized by limited discussion content. They may not understand why they are asked about ACP and why it is relevant to them in the hospital setting.