A nurse may personally feel that a patient who is dying of cancer should utilize any and all pain management options available to them, however, if the patient does not wish to use pain medications because he/she feels “out of it” or is afraid of becoming “addicted”, the nurse needs to respect that patient’s choice. One may personally feel that a patient should try all treatment options available when dealing with an illness such as cancer, but needs to be respectful if a patient does not wish to continue treatment or try something new even if the nurse feels that is the “right” thing to do. B. In the scenario presented, different strategies can be used in the Thomas’s situation to improve the quality of life for Mrs. Thomas and her husband during this illness. First of all, discussing with Mr. and Mrs. Thomas what their wants/needs are is imperative.
The first dilemma involves the doctors of Health Net i.e. Dr Gupta, Dr. Schinke and Dr. McMillan wherein they have an interest in keeping the costs per patient within the capitation fee so that they can either earn extra income or avoid having to pay money to cover the extra costs above the capitation fee, while on the other hand they have a duty as doctors to provide the best possible treatment that gives Christy a chance to overcome her illness regardless of the costs involved. The second dilemma involves UCLA Medical Clinic’s Cancer unit who could possibly lose an extremely profitable business relationship with Health Net thus putting them in a financial crisis if they allowed the transplant to occur but on the other hand they had already agreed to give Christy a transplant and not doing so under pressure from Health Net would be immoral and could possibly open them to a potential lawsuit by Christy and her family. Common Sense Morality: With regards to Health Net and some of their doctors like Dr. Gupta and Dr. McMillan, they have certainly violated the ideals of ‘Common Sense’ morality which consists of being honest, fair and doing no harm to the parties involved. They were not honest to Christy when they deemed her treatment to be “Investigational” whereas it was a pretense to keeping their costs below the capitation fee since the bone marrow transplant would cost $100,000.
When I first saw the title of the article “Why Innovation in Health Care Is So Hard” I was expecting it to be another negative prognosis (pun intended) of our healthcare system. Even before reading it’s content, I could list many of the hurdles that people from all parts of the sector face that would be expounded upon; the pleasant surprise was the upbeat, practical messages that the presents, actually turning the very obstacles into assets! It is an interesting concept to consider that the major forces that hinder progress can actually be used to drive innovation. For example, key people, or “players,” are an oft overlooked force which, as is demonstrated, can literally close down an new initiative. Yet by recognizing how it will affect these key players, their support can be a powerful force to contribute to the success of new ideas or startups.
It is noted that in the absence of a progressive terminal disease, the feeding tube may be used to prolong life and since the patient is not dying of another cause, discontinuing the feeding tube would imply a desire to cause the patient’s death. In this context most of the controversy occurs. If the patient is able to express one’s views now, or in the past has clearly expressed one’s desires on this issue, they should be considered. Too frequently, a statement is made in very clear-cut terms whether or not to use a feed tube. It would be wiser, rather than saying yes or no, to discuss the context in which one
Acute Renal Failure NU270 Assignment 6.1 7/26/2012 Patients that are in acute renal failure have many obstacles that they are faced with. The nurse should follow evidence based interventions when caring for them. Electrolyte imbalance, blood loss, infection, and nutrition are just a few of the issues the nurse must be educated about. It is important for the nurse to impose every intervention available to reduce the risk of infection in the patient experiencing acute renal failure. “Make sure appropriate hand hygiene is used.
Henry is not so convinced and as the procedure looms closer he asks his nurse to help him make a decision on whether or not to go ahead with the procedure. The conclusion will involve how the nurse negotiates with Henry and what outcomes will be possible for Henry and his daughter. It is the responsibility of the nurse and multi-disciplinary teams to identify and protect vulnerable patients. Defining what is vulnerable is very difficult; The Department of Health (DOH ) describe a vulnerable adult as “a person aged 18 years and over, who is in receipt of or may be
It is important to support people who are nearing the end of life to maintain the best quality of life possible. To support them in having much control over decisions, care and treatment as possible. Good end of life care helps patients with life-limiting conditions to live as well as possible until they die,and to die with dignity. The term "life-limiting" includes organ or systems failure, where patients are likely to die suddenly as a result of an acute crisis ( for example heart failure, chronic respiratory disease). Life threatening acute conditions caused by sudden catastrophic events (for example brain damage from head injury).
Nurses play a major role in improving diabetes care and empowering patients to develop their self-management and life skills. Managing effectively this disorder is critical since it is associated with serious complications, which may lead to both reduction in longevity and quality of life (Mold et al. 2008). Early diagnosis of diabetes and early interventions can prevent the rise of complications. Obesity, adherence, diabetic foot, depression and micro- and macro-vascular complications are five of the many areas that pose the most challenges for nurses and other healthcare professionals in treatment of the disorder.
Enhancing Patient Safety by reducing Medical Errors I chose the topic of “Enhancing patient safety by reducing medical errors” because it is a topic that I am very interested in. No matter what area of nursing I choose to go in, patient safety is always going to be a crucial part of the healthcare system. I know that when I work with the different patients, I am going have to provide a safe quality of care, be aware of the different risk factors that can affect a patient’s safety. I understand it is going to be a challenge to keep patients safe because errors and mistakes happen every day, and they can happen at any time. I feel like my job as a nurse would be to make sure that no errors occur, and that the patient is safe at all times.
It affects patients’ physical well-being, emotional well-being, social well-being, spiritual well-being and survival. The treatment should be the most disease-specific and palliative therapies, taking into account cost, availability, side effects, and patient wishes (Kuebler, Heidrich and Esper, 2007). Although medications will help to varying degrees, relief of dyspnea requires a comprehensive approach to its management. Treatment of the underlying condition or disease while concurrently addressing the symptom would be the main goal to alleviate the dyspnea, unless the patient requests comfort measures only. For the palliative care patient, the goal is excellent symptom control with the least possible sedation, allowing continued patient/family interaction (LeGrand and Walsh, 2010).