Chochinov, 2007 (cited in Cornwell & Goodrich, 2009), states simply that compassion is ‘a deep awareness of the suffering of another coupled with the wish to relieve it.’ Pediatric patients and their families are highly sensitive to the compassionate nature of health care professionals and a successful therapeutic relationship with them depends on the sensitive, compassionate care offered by the nurse. This paper will discuss why communication, family centred care and compassion are necessary and important qualities for a nurse to possess when working with pediatric patients and specify some of the challenges a nurse may meet in providing these. Communicating with Babies and Children Nursing children and babies requires a highly skilled and sensitive approach to communication. The developmental age of the pediatric patient needs to be considered when determining the best ways to
The average patient is in hospice 59 days. Hospice is for those who are terminally ill, who can no longer take care of themselves and their families are unable to help, and it is also for the cancer patients when chemotherapy and other drugs are at its end and are enable to fight the disease. The decision of hospice is decided by the patient, family and physician. Hospice services are provided by a group of professionals who works as a team to develop the best care plan for the patients as well as their families; those professionals include: Nursing services, physician participation, medical social services, counseling, Pastoral or spiritual bereavement counseling (for family up to one year after patients death), dietary, home health aide services, medications, medical equipment, other medical supplies, laboratory and other diagnostic studies related to terminal illness. Therapy (physical, speech,
It is important for the nurse to be familiar with end-of-life care options and opportunities in order to educate the patient and support them with whatever decision they choose. Many elderly patients wish to receive their end-of-life care in their own homes. Palliative care and hospice programs were created in order to help the elderly patients achieve their desires; however, there are numerous limitations that can make end-of-life care at home difficult to achieve. It is believed that end-of-life care at home isn’t as evident as individuals thought it would be due to the fact there are difficulties with having the appropriate technology needed to provide care and the inability of the medical staff to appropriately deal with and educate families (Silva, Poles, & Baliza, 2013). As stated in the research, “it appears that this is a stressful experience for professionals, mainly due to their inability to deal with the families and the lack of availability of technological resources” (Silva, Poles, & Baliza, 2013).
The elderly clients I care for generally have ill health, the illnesses they suffer from can be physical and mental. Physical illness ranges from minor life limiting illness like obesity, to illness that prevents clients from leaving their bed, and are cared for in bed. Mental health illness ranges from minor confusion to extreme paranoia and various levels of dementia. The diverse needs of my client group mean that I have to be aware of individual needs every time I am work and have to develop my own ways of communicating with clients , these ways have to be assessed on every shift as the nature of the client group means the client will have good days and bad days. So although I may have individual ways of communicating they have to be reassessed every shift to ensure they are still relevant.
What are the requirements for and barriers to hospice service? It can be hard on any family when they learn that a loved one is ill, but it can be especially difficult to learn that their loved one is terminally ill. (A terminal person is defined as person who is expected to live six months or less.) Upon finding out that, a loved one is terminally ill, a decision would need to be made on the treatment of the end-of- life care they would need. The most common treatment available is hospice. Hospice is a program that provides the patient with medical services and both the patient and their family with emotional support and spiritual resources.
The primary concern is to ensure that the patient is as comfortable as possible and that any emotional and psychological needs are being addressed. “For many, hospice is a frightening word because it is associated with end of life. But really the confusion is due to not understanding what hospice is and how it can help people who are sick and their families. Often, the biggest myth surrounding hospice care is that the family has given up and hospice is a final surrender. But hospice is a way for people to prioritize the wishes of the patient and the family and is in no way "giving up."
Nursing plays a major role in helping people transition from curative treatments or treatments that control the disease to EOL care. Choosing hospice is difficult for many patients with cancer. In addition, healthcare providers also face challenges in discussing EOL care. This article explores issues pertaining to EOL care conversations between nurses and patients
From a patients perspective : Since this hospice provides care for those that are in their last days of living from terminally ill diseases. Their objective is to enable their patients to “die with dignity”. While at the Hospice patients are going to through many emotions like stress and anxiety. The patients are told what is happening at every stage of their care. The hospice provides patients with the treatment and care they specifically need.
Running head: COMBATING COMPASSION FATIGUE Combating Compassion Fatigue Essay chelsea Riko Grand Canyon University: HLT-310v 05/26/2013 Introduction One important that should occur in nurse mind while care is being given to the patient is compassion. The healthcare professionals need to be compassionate, that’s what make you a good caregiver because in the hospital unit one may see a dying patient, suffering patient and confused patient trying to climb out of the bed. Many at times, the caregiver gets exhausted and burnout in this area and finding it difficult to cope, at the same time declining the caregiver physical, emotional and spiritual needs. 5 warning signs of compassion fatigue Physical Exhaustion For a person to function effectively, good nutrition and adequate rest needs must be met. The care giver need food and rest to maintain healthy status.
Personal goals is something everyone in the health care relationship is going to have; like the physician saving time, or the patient needing reassurance. Personal goals can be very important when trying to understand a patient and their needs. I feel that knowing one’s personal goals, you can get a better understanding of that person. Interdependence is also very important because it looks at things leading up to the health care conversation, like the receptionist that is very cold and not friendly. That one receptionist can change the whole mood of the patient, which continuing on into the visit with the physician.