Assignment: Societal Issues in End of Life Patient Care Assignment: Societal Issues in End of Life Patient Care Order Description After watching the 3 videos, please discuss the following: Answer the question with the answer number. Cite your referent. 1. What are some the the societal issues in end of life care? 2. On the whole, do most Americans have unrealistic views of the prognosis of CPR, feeding tubes, intubation etc? Why? Give some specific examples. 3. How does the media impact the patients/familys view of the end of life care, extraordinary measures and advanced directives? 4. Does the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, aka ?ObamaCare?, address end of life issues? Does it have ?death panels? or is this a myth? 5. What is the role of the nurse advocate in dealing with end of life issues? What did you learn about discussing end-of-life issues and how will you apply this? 6. What are your personal end of life care wishes? How have your expressed these to others? Do you have any formal directives? If so, which ones? If not,?why not? 7. What did you think of these videos? Have they changed or strengthened your view of end of life issues? Would you recommend these to others? Assignment: Societal Issues in End of Life Patient Care https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/facing-death/ After watching the 3 videos, please discuss the following: Answer the question with the answer number. Cite your referent. ORDER YOUR PROFESSIONAL PAPER HERE 1. What are some the the societal issues in end of life care? 2. On the whole, do most Americans have unrealistic views of the prognosis of CPR, feeding tubes, intubation etc? Why? Give some specific examples. 3. How does the media impact the patients/familys view of the end of life care, extraordinary measures and advanced directives? 4. Does the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, aka ?ObamaCare?, address end of life issues? Does it have ?death panels? or is this a myth? 5. What is the role of the nurse advocate in dealing with end of life issues? What did you learn about discussing end-of-life issues and how will you apply this? 6. What are your personal end of life care wishes? How have your expressed these to others? Do you have any formal directives? If so, which ones? If not, why not? 7. What did you think of these videos? Have they changed or strengthened your view of end of life issues? Would you recommend these to others? http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/facing-death/ Assignment: Societal Issues in End of Life Patient Care Order Now

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Societal Issues in End of Life Patient Care

Introduction

End-of-life care is a critical issue for every healthcare system, but it also brings up questions about what we as individuals can do to ensure that our loved ones have the best possible experience during their last days. As physicians, we understand the importance of taking care of our patients throughout life-threatening illness and death. But as humans, we still struggle to discuss sensitive topics like this with our loved ones who are facing imminent mortality. We want to make sure they know how much we love them, how important they are in our lives and how much we value their presence at this time in their lives—but how can we do so without causing unnecessary distress? That’s where “best practices” come into play: implementing strategies that help people talk openly and honestly about end-of-life issues while also respecting individual preferences when it comes to getting medical care.

Advance Directives

Advance directives are legal documents that allow individuals to state what type of care they want at the end of their lives. They can be used to express:

• Whether or not to be resuscitated if there is something wrong with your body

• What kind of medical treatment you want in certain situations (e.g., CPR vs. no CPR)

The advance directive is a legal document and must be signed by both you and two witnesses who know you well enough to vouch for its authenticity. You should also keep them with your records so that they’re available when needed by doctors or other caregivers. To learn more about creating an advance directive, visit www.[insert website].

Difficult Conversations and Decisions

It’s important to remember that difficult conversations can be just as difficult for the family as they are for you. You may feel like you’re doing your best to explain a difficult decision, or that this information needs to be shared with everyone involved in order for it to be effective. But when faced with an open-ended question about how someone feels about dying and what their wishes are, there is no right answer—and there may not even be any good ones!

The real challenge comes when families face these tough questions together: what do we say? How do we say it? Who says what? How much information should each person hear? Should some topics remain private (like finances)? What if someone doesn’t want his or her family members knowing something important before he dies…or worse yet, after he dies?! These kinds of issues can create stress and anxiety among loved ones who already feel helpless at times during such situations; knowing exactly how much room there will be for error makes matters even more complicated.

Prognosis Misinterpretation and Miscommunication

Prognosis is a prediction of the outcome of a disease. It’s based on the patient’s condition, as well as their response to treatment.

Sometimes, prognosis can be difficult to predict—for example, if you’re sick with pneumonia and your doctor says that you’ll recover in two weeks with antibiotics; however, this doesn’t mean that your recovery will be easy or fast (or even possible). In fact, some people may never fully recover from this type of illness at all!

Prognosis also has its limits: there are no hard-and-fast rules about what will happen in any given scenario; each individual case must be considered individually. For example: if we take two patients who have been diagnosed with cancer and treat them both equally aggressively but one dies while receiving care from his doctor at home compared to another patient who receives similar care but survives for months after receiving treatment abroad…the final outcome would depend on many factors such as geography or culture–but most importantly it depends upon how each person responds differently during treatment!

Compassionate Communication

Compassionate communication is an important part of end-of-life care. It can help reduce the stress and anxiety that family members may experience when faced with a loved one’s declining health, as well as increase their ability to cope and make decisions about how things will be handled at the end of life.

Compassionate communication allows you to explain your situation in a way that is easy for them and conveys your intention for the future treatment plan (if any). For example, if your loved one is likely going into hospice after they ask for it: “I know this seems sudden, but I’d like us both to start thinking about what else might need our attention before we get there.”

Palliative Care Education and Awareness

Palliative care is a specialized type of medical care for people with serious illnesses. It focuses on providing relief from the symptoms, pain, and stress of a serious illness. Palliative care can be provided at any stage in life—not just for the end of life.

Palliative care professionals work with patients and families to manage their health conditions and improve their quality of life by providing support during treatment-related issues such as:

• Pain management (such as managing side effects or helping patients reduce reliance on opioids)

• Anxiety reduction strategies like relaxation techniques or cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) sessions aimed at reducing stress levels

• Improving communication between you and your loved one through comfort measures such as massage therapy

Takeaway:

Palliative care is a holistic approach to improving the quality of life for patients and their families. Palliative care can be provided at any stage of a patient’s illness, from diagnosis through death. It is not just for end-of-life patients; palliative care can also be provided in any setting.

Conclusion

As a healthcare provider, it is important to understand how these issues play out in your patient’s life. This will help you not only make decisions during the end of life process but also allow you to better serve patients who may come to you with similar issues.