End-of-life care

Clinical Inquiry: Advanced Directive/Care Planning Background questions: • As a result of the passage of health reform, there has been a political controversies surrounding the language, messaging regarding advance care planning, and end-of-life care decisions. • The Institute of Medicine (IOM) published a report in September 2014, that reassessed the status of end-of-life care in America • The IOM report recommended for policies and strategies to support care delivery that • is…

Many ethical dilemmas involving patient care are issues pertaining to end-of-life care and advanced directives. An advanced directive is a legal document that states an individual’s end-of-life preferences when situations arise where they are unable to make medical decisions on their own due to a lack of capacity, terminal illness, or permanent disability (Karnik & Kanekar, 2016). Patients with advanced directives can appoint a family member or healthcare provider to act as a surrogate allowing…

End of Life Care can be a hard decision to make whether you’re the patient who wants makes decision on how you want your own care done or a love one who has to make the ultimate decision. This type of care is provided to patients during their final stages of life. Whether its palliative care that can help relieve some of their symptoms that arise from diseases or disorders that are curable or incurable to hospice that provides care to patients including children who are diagnosed with incurable…

provided they were not intended” (Veatch, 56). Although this doctrine was written to uphold a physician to a certain standard of care, this doctrine can be applied to the Ornstein’s family in their decision to prolong the mother’s life. “A Mother’s Death Tested Reporter’s Thinking About End-of-Life Care” depicted the struggles that families undergo when the ability to prolong life artificially is there yet the patient has no true say when they’re brain-dead or unconscious. This article shined…

End of Life Care Versus Palliative Care Sometimes the words we use to describe the care our loved ones receive all blend together. Hospice care, palliative care, end-of-life care, elder care...aren't they all the same things? You might be surprised to learn that each of these services is distinct and different, each offering different kinds of services and benefits, and also have separate restrictions. Today, let's take a brief look at end-of-life care versus palliative care. Palliative…

End-of-life care is an important topic that is on the rise as the number of people dying per year increases. The hands at the forefront of this issue are those of the nurses that are put in place to care for these patients; however, many of these nurses have received little to no training in palliative or end-of-life care (Dobson, 2017, p.3). Without proper guidance and education, nurses lack the skills necessary to provide care for these patients when they need it most. This article…

health care cost and decision-making, especially near the end of life. A study by Klingler, Schmitten, & Marckmann (2016) shows that the quality of care may not improve near the end of life, but high-cost of medical expenses rises exponentially. The United States spent $2.7 trillion on health care in 2011. The numbers do not pertain to patients nearing end of life, but in general, mostly with chronic diseases (Aldridge & Kelley, 2015). Rationing health care during the last years of life is…

presentation. End of life care decision making can be very difficult when the patient does not have any written wishes or a proxy to act on their behalf. My family and I were faced with a similar situation when my Aunt was struck by a car in a hit and run. The accident left her brain dead in a vegetative state. She was a nurse and just like Terri Schiavo, did not have any written wishes. My family went back in forth for days and thankfully her husband decided enough was enough and withdrew care.…

expand their emotional capacity by the facility offering training sessions to teach patient advocacy during end-of-life care and focus on communication techniques for a nurse to use during the dying process of a patient. Training of healthcare workers is not a priority to facilities according to research, though it needs to be. Research has shown that healthcare workers who work in end-of-life care settings do not portray the training needed to inform the patients’ and families about possible…

cultural curiosity of clinicians during end-of-life care. I also hope to promote clinical competencies in cultural values and perspectives different than our own to ensure clinicians provide culturally appropriate interactions with patients and families. We often hear, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Well, unfortunately this fails to take into account what others might want may differ from what the clinician wants during end of life care. Per Coolen (2012), it can be very…