Blood transfusion

Introduction The past seven weeks I have experienced at UCT have played a role towards my becoming an integrated health professional. I have learnt how the three dimensions of the IHP diagram, identified by Olckers, Gibbs and Duncan (2007: 1) as Empathy, Knowledge and Reflection, all contribute to this journey. In this essay I will draw on two impactful events that have aided me in the three dimensions mentioned above through my thoughts and feelings prior, during and after the respective…

Jehovah’s Witnesses pose great challenges to the medical field by refusing to accept blood transfusions. A variety of aspects of medicine, such as surgery and trauma, use blood transfusions for the preservation of life. Philip Baron, a professor or law, argues that the state has interests in preserving human life as well as “protecting the professional ethics and discretion of the medical profession”. These two interests create conflict between upholding patient autonomy and preserving human…

is the creation of the blood bank and being able to keep blood from coagulating, therefore making it keep longer than a few minutes. Now having the ability to store blood to use in the future was a huge advancement and saved countless lives. Instead of needing to connect a donor to a receiver to give blood now it was much more practical to have the blood before you need it and administer it from vials. Before blood banks were used during…

practicing as a nurse, an ethical dilemma that I have encountered was when caring for a female patient was anemic. The patient had a low hemoglobin and was symptomatic, she had a low blood pressure and felt very weak. I advised the patient that because her blood counts were so low that she needed a blood transfusion. Due to her religious beliefs, the patient kept insisting that she could not receive…

and scientist use blood every day for research. For examples, they use blood in studies to help make medication or to even find cures. Doctors also use their patients’ blood to preform test to see if they have some sort of an affection or life-threating virus that is causing their patients to be sick. Reasons why doctors use blood for their test or research is because the human blood or any organisms blood is very complex because it has all sorts of pathogens, leukocytes (white blood cells),…

For a large part of History, Jehovah Witnesses have often been ostracized and somewhat unwelcomed throughout the world, due to the sometimes misunderstood religious perspectives they have. Jehovah Witnesses do belong to the larger religious group of Christianity but also have many distinct beliefs that separate them from many modern day Christians. The beliefs they have can influence their relationship to health and health precautions, and may have lasting impacts on their population…

Moral Distress of Nurses Interview Everyone will end up facing an issue at one point in their life when their moral code of ethics is tested. One profession where peoples’ ethics are tested every day is nursing. Nurses are put in situations everyday where they question their morals because of the decisions of those around them causing a lot of extra stress on nurses. It has become so common that the term moral distress in nurses is being studied. Moral distress in nurses is defined as painful…

Cultural Competency The health care system may be unique in being a true melting pot of cultures, ethnicities and races. No matter ones background, health care and maintenance is a necessity of life. The cultural landscape of America is a constantly changing one. It is project that by the year 2045 that non-Hispanic Caucasians will represent less than 50% of the U.S. population for the first time (Alba, 2015). However this estimate may actually be inaccurate because of the numerous American…

Blood is everywhere, in everyone, in all living animals. The type of blood and what makes it look how it does is all based on its composition. The uses of it are vital to all animals survival as it is the key component to living. Unknown to most, but the blood's composition must be kept at near perfect balance at all time for it to perform all its functions. Blood is a crucial part of an animal's existence. Without it, it could not survive. Blood has numerous types as well as appearances, and…

Question 11 HIV/AIDS is a very serious, life-threatening, and almost entirely preventable disease. With increased education and awareness, we can continue to decrease the number of new cases each year, encourage all to become knowledgeable about the disease and get tested, and bring attention and care to current HIV/AIDS patients. One of the most at-risk groups to become infected with HIV/AIDS is young adults, who made up 39 percent of all new infections and 15 percent of all people living…