NUR 302 Concepts In Nursing
Question:
Write a report on personal experience of caring for a dying patient.
Answer:
Death is inevitable and caring for dying patient can be so traumatizing especially if you have known the patient for a long time, you understand them and some of them open up about their life’s, their choices, and the good and bad they have done. In the final days of a person they are a completely different person from who they were when they came in. Some clients are aware of what is to happen and they have accepted it, these ones are easy to deal with, because they are not sad about what is to happen, others have not yet come to reality and they are going through the stages of grief and they are the hardest to deal with (Rosenberg, 2013). It is also easy for the old to transition easy (Eliopoulos, 2013).
What I have experienced when taking care of dying patients is sadness, you get to know this person their family and whatever the person is living behind is what makes the process even sadder, but with time as a nurse you learn to let go because it is a call of nature everyone has to die at a certain point in time.
Personal experience with death of a family
It was the most devastating news and experience of my life, I lost my Uncle to colon cancer and the news was too hard to accept. His cancer was in stage four and had overpowered him, so there was no coming back, I knew we had a limited amount of time with him, but he left too soon, letting go was the most difficult thing to do.
Personal faith and traditions related to death
I am a Christian this bounds me to respect the dead and treat them with the respect they deserve. My faith has shaped how provide care to the dying because we are taught that all human are equally and they should be treated with dignity and respect even in their death beds. My faith prohibits me from providing euthanasia procedures because that is the same murdering, because we are prohibited against taking a life.
I respect every person’s choice of things if they decide to go with euthanasia I respect that but I make sure I am not part of it. I leave the judging to God. I respect other people’s traditions however much they are conflicting with my faith (Treloar, 2000).
The role of a nurse in caring for a person through the dying experience
The main role of a nurse is to ensure that the client’s wishes are met (Glaser, 2017).
- The nurse should ensure the client’s privacy and dignity are maintained. The nurse is the patients advocate, and advocating for the best form of care is your first priority(Lewis, 2016).
- The nurse should ensure the health and safety of family members as they come in contact with their loved one especially in cases of infectious conditions.
- The nurse should ensure the safety off their client with the outside world especially if they have immunosuppressive disorders.
- The nurse should ensure that all legal obligations are met according to the wishes of their client. The nurse should ensure that all the wishes of the patients are met regarding pain control and resuscitation. Some wish for pain control while others don’t, others wish for no resuscitation despite how worse the condition gets, all of these choice choices should be respected.
- The nurse should ensure and encourage spiritual support for the client according to their wishes and beliefs(Tailor, 2002).
- The nurse should ensure that the clients belonging that are within the hospitals possession are taken good care of until their demise and after their demise they are given to right person.
How does the California Advanced healthcare directive make me feel?
Filling this from scares me and makes me confused. I don’t know what dying feels like and the thought of I dying someday scare me so much. I don’t know what the cause of my death will be, so I am confused about what to fill or not to fill, what if I change my mind? But one thing is for sure I don’t want to feel any pain. I want to be resuscitated if I happen to go under when I am young and I have my whole life ahead of me, but if I am old and I have lived my purpose then I don’t want to be resuscitated. That is why it is confusing for me but most of it all scary very scary.
Bibliography
Eliopoulos, C. (2013). Gerontological nursing. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
Glaser, B. (2017). Awareness of dying. Routledge.
Lewis, S. (2016). Medical-Surgical Nursing-E-Book: Assessment and Management of Clinical Problems, Single Volume. Elsevier Health Sciences.
Rosenberg, J. (2013). Loss, dying, death and grief. In I. P. ed.], In Potter and Perry’s Fundamentals of Nursing [4th ed.] (pp. 512-544). Elsevier.
Tailor, E. (2002). Spiritual care . Upper Saddle River NJ: Pearsons education Inc.
Treloar, L. (2000). Integration of spirituality into health care practice by nurse practitioners. Journal of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, 7(12), 280-285.
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