As a critical care nurse it is important to take into consideration the patient and family's cultural and spiritual beliefs. Taking into consideration such beliefs helps the nurse gain better understanding on how to go about the treatment process. This is essential because the nurse plays a vital role in the care of the patient and family. A strong relationship between the nurse, patient, and family alleviates the stress and helps facilitate the bereavement process during end of life care. Some of the decisions the critical care nurse must make include: family/child visiting policy, sedation, comfort measures for the patient, and the discontinuation of life-saving measures. Correspondingly, the nurse must implement these principles in the scenario
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Providing comfort measures for the family will create a therapeutic environment, which ultimately benefits the patient and the situation. According, to the article “End of Life Helping with Comfort and Care” some people are afraid of being alone at the very end. This feeling can be made worse by the understandable reactions of family, friends, and even the medical team (NIH, 2016). This is why maintaining a therapeutic environment is important. A part of maintaining a calm and soothing environment for the patient is assessing the family dynamics to determine if scheduled visitation time should be established. If family conflict is identified the nurse can accommodate this by making a visitation schedule, so that the family members can visit the patient at different times. By doing this, it prevents conflict, stress, agitation, and anxiety to the patient and family. After establishing if a visitation schedule is needed the nurse must then determine if visitation restrictions are needed. Flexible visitation with extended visiting hours would be determined if it corresponds with the family dynamics and the hospital’s visitation policies. Most hospitals have visitation restrictions for children. However, the restrictions are flexible depending on the situation. In this situation, if the nurse determines that the patient is stable, …show more content…
Ineffective communication between the nurse and family damages the trusting relationship that the nurse needs to establish. This can cause stress leading to a traumatizing experience for the family. To make the best out of the situation the nurse should communicate closely with the family regarding what to expect from the healthcare team, treatment, and patient’s progress. The nurse must be conscious about the delivery of communication to ensure that it is understood and positively received by the family. Prior to any interventions the nurse should explain to the family what is going to happen and the rationale. The same should be applied when life-saving measures are discontinued. Since the family has decided to go this route, the role of the nurse is to support and grant the family’s wishes. The nurse will support the family’s wishes by discontinuing all life saving measures, once all the family has made it in town to say goodbye. During, the support stage it gives the family time to ask the nurse questions making it easier for them to transition into the end of life stage. The role of the critical care nurse during end of life care is important because it involves care for the patient and family, which directly affect each other. Comfort measures for the patient and family, visitation policies, communication, and discontinuation of life saving measures are all vital components the nurse
Providing comfort measures for the family will create a therapeutic environment, which ultimately benefits the patient and the situation. According, to the article “End of Life Helping with Comfort and Care” some people are afraid of being alone at the very end. This feeling can be made worse by the understandable reactions of family, friends, and even the medical team (NIH, 2016). This is why maintaining a therapeutic environment is important. A part of maintaining a calm and soothing environment for the patient is assessing the family dynamics to determine if scheduled visitation time should be established. If family conflict is identified the nurse can accommodate this by making a visitation schedule, so that the family members can visit the patient at different times. By doing this, it prevents conflict, stress, agitation, and anxiety to the patient and family. After establishing if a visitation schedule is needed the nurse must then determine if visitation restrictions are needed. Flexible visitation with extended visiting hours would be determined if it corresponds with the family dynamics and the hospital’s visitation policies. Most hospitals have visitation restrictions for children. However, the restrictions are flexible depending on the situation. In this situation, if the nurse determines that the patient is stable, …show more content…
Ineffective communication between the nurse and family damages the trusting relationship that the nurse needs to establish. This can cause stress leading to a traumatizing experience for the family. To make the best out of the situation the nurse should communicate closely with the family regarding what to expect from the healthcare team, treatment, and patient’s progress. The nurse must be conscious about the delivery of communication to ensure that it is understood and positively received by the family. Prior to any interventions the nurse should explain to the family what is going to happen and the rationale. The same should be applied when life-saving measures are discontinued. Since the family has decided to go this route, the role of the nurse is to support and grant the family’s wishes. The nurse will support the family’s wishes by discontinuing all life saving measures, once all the family has made it in town to say goodbye. During, the support stage it gives the family time to ask the nurse questions making it easier for them to transition into the end of life stage. The role of the critical care nurse during end of life care is important because it involves care for the patient and family, which directly affect each other. Comfort measures for the patient and family, visitation policies, communication, and discontinuation of life saving measures are all vital components the nurse