¶ … Life Dilemmas in Nursing
End of life
End of Life Dilemmas in Nursing: Issues with Euthanasia and How to Approach Them
A friend of mine had the unfortunate experience of having to make a decision about withdrawing health care from his terminally ill wife. Even without revealing too much detail about the case the description of this incident is rather disturbing. His wife had been treated for breast cancer, but several months later it was found that the cancer had spread to her lungs and brain. Upon returning from treatment one evening she began to experience hallucinations and became very confused. He took her to a local ER, where she was combative, confused, and delirious. He was immediately asked by the ER physician if he wanted her put on life support as her condition was terminal, and he asked that she be put on life support until he could discuss his options with his wife's oncologists (who were from a larger University Hospital). However, he was encouraged by the physicians and nurses not to put his wife on life support and was made to feel uncomfortable regarding his request, but he was insistent. However, as it turned out once she was sedated and did not require assistance breathing and she was kept sedated and placed in a private room. Having been informed by her physicians that his wife's condition was most likely terminal, he decided not to have his wife placed on life support if needed and he discussed his decision with his wife's nurse. He also mentioned that he did not want her to suffer. However, there was no advanced directive or POA agreement completed. Nonetheless, following this statement, a nurse administered a morphine IV push to his wife and she passed away within minutes.
In contrast to the above incident, the American Nurses Association (ANA) Position Statement (2010): Registered Nurses' Roles and Responsibilities in Providing Expert Care and Counseling at the End of Life explicitly states "…it is never ethically permissible for a nurse to act by omission or commission, including, but not limited to medication administration, with the intention of ending a patient's life" (ANA, 2010, pg 2). Earlier position statements have also upheld this statement. For example, the...
APNs have reported feeling greatly distressed when it comes to having to make end-of-life decisions because of a lack of support in this area. In conclusion, more effort needs to be put into making the lines less blurry for APNs so that they can make end-of-life decisions with more confidence and support. References: Ahrens, T., & Kolleff, M. (2003). Improving family communications at the end of life: implications for length of stay
Nursing Shortage Review On Nurses Shortage The supply of professional nurses relative to the increase in demand for their services has been on a general decline over the years. As a career choice, nursing has been facing perennial shortage of professionals. Most healthcare organizations will affirm that their daunting tasks were recruiting fresh nurses and retaining the ones already in practice. The 2008 projections from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that
Nursing profession is among the oldest in history. Currently, there is much debate that surrounds the profession because of the need for more trained nurses. In recent years the nursing shortage has become a major problem for the medical profession and has resulted in poor patient care and slower patient recover. The purpose of this discussion is to provide an in depth examination of the nursing profession. We will discuss
(2008). The study measures public opinion concerning two scenarios: one in which the kidney donor is given a fixed financial compensation; and one in which the donor is provided with health insurance coverage for life. According to the findings of the study, "although almost half of the respondents (46%) were reluctant towards introducing a system with fixed compensation to increase the number of living kidney donors, still 25% of
In the emergency room, this distinction can have a determinant impact on the ability of the staff to preserve life and diminish pain and suffering. The introduction of a bioethical perspective into this dialogue invokes a question as to the primacy of an interest in pursuing to the utmost the well-being of the patient. This speaks to one of the core values associating the principles of the ANA with the
Though still worthwhile if it leads to an improvement in nursing or medical standards, whistle-blowing can be damaging to the profession (Fritko & Jackson 2005). Whistle-bowing can also empower nurses, however, with successful instances of whistle-blowing potentially inspiring others that had noticed wrongdoing and remained to afraid to speak out. A large part of the importance of whistle-blowing in the nursing profession stems form the fact that the cultures of
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