ipl-logo

Terminally Ill Communication

1704 Words7 Pages

Meruyert Madikenova
Communication in caring for terminally ill patients
Communication plays an important role in establishment of good relationships between the healthcare provider and patients. Good communication affects patient satisfaction, patient compliance and patient health outcomes. It is the one of the essential attributes of healthcare providers, and mastering in effective communication is necessary skill to provide quality patient care. (McCorry and Mason, 2011) The most asked question for terminally ill patients is “How long I will live?”, and answer gives them time to make decisions about end-of-life care. Therefore, healthcare providers should be able to respond properly to help patients address their concerns and promote shared …show more content…

(Clayton et al., 2005(1)) Health professionals struggle to initiate the discussion because of fear to upset and hurt patient’s feeling. (Clayton et al., 2005(2)) Despite the burden for the patients, they still prefer having doctor who wants to discuss dying. (Clayton et al., 2005(1)) Health professionals, carers and patients have different opinions on who and when to initiate discussion about prognosis and end-of-life issues. According to Clayton (2005), there are four approaches: wait for the patient/carer to raise the topic (1); HPs to offer all PC patients and their carers the opportunity to discuss the future (2); HPs to initiate the discussion when the patient/family needs to know (3); or HPs to initiate the discussion when the patient/family seems ready (4). (Clayton et al., 2005(2)) In the first approach, health professionals wait an offer from patient/carers to discuss the topic. They are afraid of hurting the patients by initiating discussion when their patients are not ready to hear. Also, some doctors pointed that they are uncertain about prognosis and do not want to scare patients. In the second approach, health professionals believe that patients/carers needs permission from them to initiate discussion and, therefore, it is doctor’s responsibility to raise end-of-life conversations. By …show more content…

(Friedrichsen et al., 2011) In the case of absolute truth, patients are ready to hear the truth because they feel like they control the situation. It gives an opportunity to plan their lives for the remaining time. They don’t want physicians to hide the truth: it will not help, it will hurt them. In the case of partial truth, patients want to hear only some parts of truth which help them to maintain hope. They avoid asking questions regarding information that they don’t want to know. They expect from physicians to discuss topics that will benefit patients, not frighten. In the case of desired truth, patients try to avoid the truth and are looking for other truths. Because of their fear of the truth, they are afraid of asking questions and handling the difficulties of the truth. (Friedrichsen et al., 2011) Telling the truth and destroying patient’s hope is sensitive task for health professionals. However, clinicians prefer full disclosure eve if this process is painful to the patients. They consider it ethical and necessary because patients will be able to face the truth and decide how to cope with it, however, patient have rights to know or not to know. (Friedrichsen et al.,

Show More
Related
400 Words | 2 Pages

“Benevolent deception” is a typical practice where doctors purposely mask important information from their patients for the patients’ own benefit. Doctors will restrain information because “they believed it was best not to confuse or upset patients with frightening terms they might not understand, like cancer” (Skloot, 2010, 2011, p. 63). In The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, doctors withheld crucial information from Henrietta, and overall left her in the unknown. Lacks had to frequently make trips to John Hopkins because of her constant discomforts and pains, and she had no clue what was causing it.

Read More
419 Words | 2 Pages

Kevin t. Keith addresses his argument on why doctors should should stop futile treatment in a persistent tone.which is addressed to the healthcare network and the families of terminally ill patients. He presented a fair argument with questionable facts, ok anecdotes, and substandard

Read More
909 Words | 4 Pages

According to Lipkin, why is it usually impossible to tell patients the whole truth? According to the text, Lipkin believes it is usually impossible to tell patients the whole truth because “patients rarely know how the body functions in health and disease, but instead have inaccurate ideas of what is going on; this hampers the attempts to “tell the truth.” (160). What is Lipkin’s crucial test for determining the appropriate degree of honesty to use with patients?

Read More
1070 Words | 5 Pages

She advocates for the goal of disclosure and an atmosphere of openness, hoping to restore trust between the physician and the patient. Communicating truthful information, even if it may be life-changing, will promote more beneficial medical practices. However, she also acknowledges that there may be cases in which concealment of information may be necessary. In such cases, Bok suggests that truthful information should go to someone closely related to the patient which will promote a more open and trusting environment. A concern arises, then, about what the physician should do if the patient explicitly communicates that they do not want to be told about a diagnosis or treatment option even if it may better promote their

Read More
1020 Words | 5 Pages

1 Outline the factors that can affect an individual’s views on death and dying •Social •Cultural •Religious •Spiritual 2 Outline the factors that can affect own views on death and dying •Emotional •Past experience •Psychological •Religious •Social •Spiritual 3 Outline how the factors relating to views on death and dying can impact on practice Current and previous professional roles and responsibilities and past; boundaries limited by legal and ethical issues; professional codes of practice - internal and national; impact of management and leadership; input from other team members and workers. 4 Define how attitudes of others may influence an individual’s choices around death and dying different models of nursing care; person-centred

Read More
589 Words | 3 Pages

A moral dilemma that arises in a doctor-patient relationship is whether or not the doctor should always tell their patient the truth about their health. Although withholding information was a common practice in the past, in today’s world, patient autonomy is more important than paternalism. Many still are asking if it is ever morally permissible for a doctor to lie to a patient, though. David C. Thomasma writes that truth-telling is important as a right, a utility, and a kindness, but other values may be more important in certain instances. The truth is a right because respect for the person demands it.

Read More
1523 Words | 7 Pages

Training and Education: Policymakers should prioritize education and training programs for healthcare professionals and hospice care providers. These programs should focus on ensuring a clear understanding of policy updates, eligibility criteria, and the importance of regular reassessment of patients' prognoses. Improved knowledge and training will facilitate better decision-making and support for patients and their families (Stacey et al., 2020). V. Stakeholder Engagement: Policymakers should actively engage stakeholders, including healthcare professionals, patient advocacy groups, and hospice providers, in the policy review and revision process. Their expertise and perspectives are crucial in developing a policy that is responsive to the needs of patients and promotes high-quality end-of-life care.

Read More
399 Words | 2 Pages

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.

Read More
1736 Words | 7 Pages

The dying patient no longer has quality of life, they have lost their independence, are lonely, are forced to endure inevitable pain, are publicly humiliated, are suffering immensely, and are forced to watch their loved ones grieve because of them. It is an innate Constitutional Right to choose how to die, since we all will die. There comes a point when the poking and prodding becomes too much, when the patient wants to just die in silence in the loving arms of their

Read More
252 Words | 2 Pages

One of the responsibility of a healthcare professional is to give sufficient information to patients. Inadequate information can leads to serious repercussion, such as Vivian’s case. In the movie, after the treatment started, Vivian felt that she should have asked more questions when she was diagnosed with metastatic ovarian cancer. She wasn’t aware of the tests and examinations that would be done on her.

Read More
1667 Words | 7 Pages

This paper will explain the seven principles of patient-clinician communication. It will then apply three of those principles to my interactions with my patients. Next, it will describe three methods being used in my area of practice to improved communication between the patients and clinicians. It will ultimately choose one of those principles that applies best to my practice and clearly describe how I use it. It will describe ethical principles that can be applied to issues with patient-clinician communication.

Read More
703 Words | 3 Pages

When a patient is at the end of life it is very important to value the patients self dignity and their decisions at the mere end of their lives. The end of life care is to relieve the weight of the patient 's shoulders physically and mentally. I approve of end of life caring. Basic end of life care is summarized by improving the care of quality of life and dignity of the ill person. The important themes to good ethics of end of life care is a combination of human rights,respect,dignified care,and privacy.

Read More
311 Words | 2 Pages

So that patients and families know what to expect, the patient's dying trajectory should be openly discussed in detail. True or false? Why? In my opinion discussing a patients disease trajectory openly when the patient is ready is important.

Read More
951 Words | 4 Pages

Pharmaceutical Care Patch Adams is a 1998 semi-biographical comedy-drama film based on the life story of Dr. Hunter "Patch" Adams and his book, Gesundheit: Good Health is a Laughing Matter, by Adams and Maureen Mylander. (Wikipedia) The movie is all about a medical school student, Patch Adams who is eager and passionate in helping patients in a way which his dean disagreed on. Despite being warned by his dean and lecturers, he still holds on his principle in treating the patient as a person, not treating the disease.

Read More
866 Words | 4 Pages

Truth telling and confidentiality depend upon the situations. It is right to tell the truth in certain but it is also right to hide something from the patients in certain situations. According to utilitarianism one should usually tell the truth and keep one’s promise because you should always perform an action that provides maximum utility and if keeping a promise and telling the truth makes someone happy then it is providing maximum utility.

Read More

More about Terminally Ill Communication

Related Topics

Open Document