While utilizing hospice care, patients are under the care of one nurse, a nurse who will be with the patient from the time care is initiated until they die. In some cases, this nurse will be the listening ear for the patient’s fears of dying that the patient may not be able to share with their loved ones. Hospice care provides a support group for the patient to rely on from admission. Once the patient is admitted into the hospice program, patients join a support group that is there for them until the very end. This support group includes a social worker, a chaplain, and the patient’s nurse who assists with the patient’s everyday care.
When someone is dying there are legal concerns that a nurse must keep in mind when caring for the patient. Many times family members are the caregivers during the end of life process and this can place a real strain on the family. There are many nursing diagnosis associated with end of life care, and nurses must keep in mind special nursing considerations and implications. “End-of-life (EOL) care is defined as an active, compassionate approach that treats, comforts, and supports persons who are living with, or dying from progressive or chronic life threatening conditions” (Ross, MM., Fisher, R., & McClean, MJ., 2000). Unfortunately, the issue of death has been denied, hidden, and thus feared by our current society.
Most people wonder how they’re going to die; peacefully of natural causes, or by something outside of their control. Hospice care and assisted suicide both deal with matters of dying, and your own personal choice in how you want to die. Deciding on how you want to die is a very personal decision that many people have to make at some point. Hospice care provides medical care, emotional support, and spiritual resources for people who are in the last stages of a serious illness like cancer or heart failure and are about to die. Hospice care also aids the family of the person dying by helping them come to emotional terms of a family member dying.
While I do have my own beliefs of how such a patient should spend these last stages of life, I understand that as the nurse, my role is to be supportive and assistive. I can offer support and my nursing expertise but ultimately, the decisions reside with the patient and the family. In the case of Mrs. Thomas, the 56 year old mother who has gone home with the poor prognosis of breast cancer with metastasis to the lungs and a recommendation of palliative care I feel there are some strategies that I could offer as the nurse to help her and her family improve the quality of life in these final months as she struggles with this disease. I would suggest that she take her pain medication, hire some in-home help, and explore emotional and psychological support. Mrs. Thomas was prescribed Vicodin to control her pain but has been reluctant to use it based on fear of dependency.
Help when leaving the hospital. Help with your billing claims. • • • • • `e Patient Care Partnership Understanding Expectations, Rights and Responsibilities W hen you need hospital care, your doctor and the nurses and other professionals at our hospital are committed to working with you and your family to meet your health care needs. Our dedicated doctors and staff serve the community in all its ethnic, religious and economic diversity. Our goal is for you and your family
From the teams of health care workers in Primary Care trusts, Secondary care teams of specialists in hospitals and social care teams and individuals out in the community, all providing care to people with a whole range of illnesses and disabilities. Some with short term illnesses who after prescribed treatment or rest will recover and return to everyday life. Others will go on to have long term conditions such as diabetes or it may be people becoming older and their health deteriorating. The relationship between the care worker and the cared for is vastly important. Many procedures and tasks carried out in care involve helping and supporting service users and patients with intimate care and finding out information deemed private.
Organ Transplantation Laila Richards Mountain State University Medical Ethics and Law Philosophy 200 Ryan P. Snuffer April 15, 2011 Organ Transplantation As nurses, we are faced with caring for the dying every day. At the end of life, we care for the terminal patient and their family, we are their advocate and we are there to make sure the dying patient passes with comfort and dignity and to make the process easier for the family. During this time, we must also be aware of those living who are in need of organs to survive. Each area of the county has an Organ Procurement Organization (OPO) designated for certain hospitals; it is law that the OPO is notified of pending deaths and within one hour of actual deaths.
Patients and their families need to be informed about services available in community to improve quality of life at the end of life. Studies suggest that when informed and educated about aggressive treatments visually, more opted for palliative care instead of aggressive care. Another factor was timing of discussion regarding end of life care. NJHA states” despite the fact that about 70 percent of care still occurs outside hospital, hospitals have become the center of care in the minds of patients. It is not a place to die but instead a place that promises and delivers renewal and improved health for many diseases.
I want to face challenges on a regular basis and overcome them so that I can continue to learn and grow. My uncle was in a hospice house recently as a result of his long battle with lung cancer. The nurses there had a significant impact, good and bad, on him and our whole family. There were many nights that I stayed with him because we knew he needed kindness and dignity that he wouldn’t receive from one of the nurses on duty. Then there are the wonderful, kind, and compassionate nurses who treated him as a person instead of a disease that was almost over.
Programs that were in place for the care of people who cannot afford to pay are being considered for cuts and many people are uncertain how they will care for themselves when the time comes. Elderly suicide is real and prevalent and some consider this to be a viable option for not ‘burdening’ the system or their families. Identify two key health care-related challenges to this population, such as increases in health care costs, or the need for in-home medical care. “The need for in-home care that will keep people safe and healthy in their own homes is a growing necessity.” (Garrett, N., & Martini, E. 2007) In our society, we will continue to see a rise in the utilization of both of these programs. Many do not realize how cost effective it is to have services in their own home and are quickly moved into an assisted living community by their families without even considering other options.