I spoke with the patient 's wife via phone, The wife states that she needs additional assistance for the patient. She states that she is aware that the patient 's health is declining and that she wants him to be comfortable at home. I discussed hospice services with the patient and the wife. The wife states that she would like hospice to evaluate the patient, the patient also agree for hospice to evaluate. Case reviewed with the patient 's nurse, the charge nurse, case management and hospice.
Legacy Hospices missions statement is to affirm life and focus on the quality of life. Legacy Hospices consist of twenty-one offices located in seven states, including Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Mississippi. Legacy Hospices provides care for people who are in their last stages of life. Hospices allow nurses, doctors, spiritual leaders, and rehab teams to stay and work with the patient so the family members can carry out their everyday lives. Hospices job is not to postpone deaths, but to prepare the family in every way possible for that time.
SDLA 4: Activity 1 Palliative care continues to evolve in providing better end-of-life care and so does nursing care. Thus, nursing practice is enhanced to satisfy the demand of the palliative care. A nurse provides complex care and fulfils the needs of the patients. Nursing involves in caring work, which focus on patient experiencing agony in palliative and haematological cancer care. Nurses worked in a taxing environment, that can be highly stressful, and often they experience physical, psychological and spiritual exhaustion.
The ethical principle of autonomy provides for respect for the patient’s autonomy to make decisions and choices concerning their life and death. Respecting the patient’s autonomy goes against the principles of beneficence and non-maleficence. There also exists the issue of religious beliefs the patient, family, or the caretaker holds, with which the caretaker has to grapple. The caretaker thus faces issues of fidelity to patient welfare by not abandoning the patient or their family, compassionate provision of pain relief methods, and the moral precept to neither hasten death nor prolong life.
The modern hospice movement is attributed to the pioneering work of Cicely Saunders, a British nurse and social worker (and later a physician). It was Ms. Saunders who (in the 1960s) first, “…used
In all my experiences as a nurse, I’ve realized the importance of communication, providing holistic care to an individual and empowering them with the knowledge to manage their health. When an illness strikes a person, it affects not just his body, but also his mind and spirit. The art of communication is invaluable to patient interaction and establishing a therapeutic nurse-patient relationship, that facilitate coping mechanisms for patients, moreover it prepared myself as a nurse to meet their individual needs. Furthermore, there is at the moment an insurmountable demand for survivorship care as a result of the advancement in technology and medicine, which made living beyond life expectancy possible for increasingly more people. Living after cancer treatment is not free of complications as there are acute and chronic side effects of treatment that requires constant monitoring and attention, and this information spurred me to shift my focus from palliative to survivorship care.
It brought to my awareness both the limitation and the capacity of medicine. Although there was no medical intervention that could cure the diseases of those terminal patients, their quality of life was improved by an outstanding team of doctors, nurses and volunteers. This awareness helped reconcile myself to the fact that certain things, such as death and terminal illness, can not be avoided or changed. By viewing death as a natural part of life, I will be able to offer my dying patients the best care possible while also understanding my limitation as a physician and a human being.
During the late 1800’s, medication to reduce pain, like morphine and chloroform, became widely used by physicians. A man by the name of Samuel D. Williams, who was not a doctor, suggested that these pain relievers could also be used for the “quick and painless death” of a patient (Emanuel). While William’s thought was not acted on right away, it stayed with many people for quite some time. Some attempts were made in different states to legalize euthanasia or PAS but none of the bills were successful. Some organizations, like the National Society for the legalization of Euthanasia and the Hemlock Society, began to attempt to educate the population about euthanasia and PAS and why it should become a practice in the
There sometimes is a point that a human reaches in degeneration that modern medicines cannot aide or remedy. As described by Lewis Cohen, “Medication such as morphine can help the terminally ill manage pain, but it can’t ameliorate their agony at no longer being the same people that they were before the illness” (Cohen). The unbearable pain and loss of normalcy that accompanies those with terminal illnesses is what pushes them to consider assisted suicide. The mentality is seen simply as “if one is going to die anyway, then why not choose how and when.” Unfortunately, the choice of death for those with incurable circumstances has been twisted into other views and is being misinterpreted as a way for doctors to mercy kill their patients.
Health Care givers should be aware of the issues on what to say and how to act,give emotional support,and when to use hospice care. An article stated,”Several scholars listed the implications of spirituality,including preserving the patient’s hope,helping the patient find meaning in life and death,and helping the patient find spirit.. ”(Qiaohong Guo and Cynthia S Jacelon,An integrative review of dignity in end-of-life care.)What this means is it is there to help the patient have hope,remember the good moments in life,and find the feeling of completeness so they can pass on from the physical world with no regrets. Healthcare givers can encourage their patients without giving false hope.
A hospice provides a more suitable environment for those at the final stages of their lives compared to a hospital for a multitude of reasons. Hospice care is designed to care for all aspects of the person life; they provide physical, mental, and religious services, as well as caring for the patient’s family. Since hospice care is also available at home, the patient has the opportunity to die in familiar surroundings. On the contrary, hospital care provides primarily physical services to the patient and is focused on the patient’s disease. Also, dying in a hospital can be less pleasant because a connotation of hospitals is illness which is a negative quality compared to that of a home, where a person is surrounded by their memories and belongings.
What is Kolcaba’s comfort theory? Between the year 1900 and 1929, comfort care was the goal for both medicine and nursing. Patient’s recovery was thought to be due to comfort. However, the focus on comfort care seemed to decline and it was only retained for patients’ at the end of life, with no other treatment options obtainable (March & McCormack, 2009).
' Practitioner can play a role in improving the quality of life of a terminally-ill patient in both pharmacological aspects and non-pharmacological aspects. After all, what remains in a patient 's mind is the care and love given by practitioner, not the medical information. Something as simple as a warm-hearted pat on the shoulder or a word of assurance can enlighten their day. If we can treat every patient wholeheartedly, as if he/ she is our friend, it makes significant difference in patient life. Conclusion Hepler & Strand define pharmaceutical care as the responsible provision of medicine therapy for the purpose of improving a patient
(2008) Preliminary report of a palliative care and case management project in an emergency department for chronically ill elderly patients. Journal of Urban Health, 85 (3), 443-51. Montefiore Medical Center created a program in their Emergency Department that identified chronically ill, elderly patients. They found that these patients were more likely to need palliative or home care, and later on hospice care. This preliminary report and case management pilot project made connecting patients to such services and ultimately allowing patients far more accessible options to these types of care.
This assignment also covers the importance of hope for patients and the role hope plays in terminally ill patients. I will also discuss ways in which health professionals can foster hope in terminally ill patients. I was on my placement on an oncology ward. It was my second week on
