Importance of Patient Care - Assignment Example

Patient Care Question 1 Several communication problems exist in the handling of Mrs. H. from the time she was brought to the hospital to the time she died. The communication gap in this situation is brought about by the lack of proper reflection of the events at the hospital. Patient care requires health care providers and nurses make use of the skills of reflection to handle patients in a proper manner. In this specific situation, the nurses did not first interrogate the patient concerning his/her pain. Moreover, the nurses were supposed to first respond to the patient’s pain and try to make the patient comfortable immediately (Pierson, 2009). After responding to the patient’s need, the next procedure was for the nurses to relate to the patients pain. Thereafter, effective measures in easing the pain experienced by the patients were to be undertaken by the nurses. Constant monitoring of the patient’s condition and communication with family members could assist in understanding the patient’s condition. Constant monitoring of the patient’s condition in collaboration with health professionals will help in promoting good healthcare for patients (Lemmer, 2009). Documented history of the patient home care is also helpful in improving care since doctors can easily monitor patient condition when he/she is brought to the hospital. Family meeting on the health of the patient assists in toning down the tension and coming up with a common message and feeling towards the health of the patient. In this case, a family meeting would help in appointing a person to collaborate with the nurses and doctors in taking care of the patient. Question 2 The patient had several signs that caused pain and anguish to the patient while at the same time it led to the death of the patient. The important steps that need to be carried out in managing the patient look into reporting, responding, relating, reasoning and reconstructing. These steps are used in taking care of the pain and managing the patient in the process of providing good healthcare to the patients. In this case, the nurses would have managed the pain suffered by Mrs. H. and then make her comfortable while looking for solutions to each of the symptoms (Lemmer, 2009). The first care step would be to make Mrs. H. comfortable and rehydrate her for the patient to be able to cope with her pain. In this case, stabilizing the patient is quite important for Mrs. H. while at the same time looking for solutions through consultations with doctors and experts. Teaching the family the process of monitoring the vital signs of a patient is quite important. The main teaching that a family should be given is how to manage pain while at the same time making the patient comfortable (Angelos, 2007). Moreover, family patients need to be taught on the 5R’s of pain management and care. These skills are necessary in relating with medical practitioners in challenging situations like the one experienced by Mrs. H. The family should also be aware of ways of taking care of a cancer patient (Pierson, 2009). Question 3 Mrs. H. suffered a lot of pains that had different underlying causes which made her suffer and finally leading to her death. For instance, her lack of bowel movement is contributed by dehydration which makes it difficult for digestion to occur in the body. Furthermore, the dehydration led to lack of colour in her skin due to lack of waste excretion from the body. The kidney cannot work properly when the body is dehydrated and this leads to higher levels of impurities in the blood. As a result, the body experiences high blood pressure that was exhibited by Mrs. H. As a result, Mrs. H. needed to undertake a set of painkillers to deal with each pain such as skin creams like lidocaine would help in relieving skin pain (Kardamakis 2009). Bone pain was one of the major problems that Mrs. H. experienced and this could be cured by a combination of biophosphonate medicine such as pamidronate and zoledronic acids. Since these drugs are strong, they might have adverse effects on the patient. For instance, zoledronic acid could lead to stomach inflammation and erosion of the oesophagus. In some cases, these medicines could trigger flu like symptoms. In the process of administering this medicine, family members or the patient is required to remain seated for a period of 30 to 60 minutes after taking the medication (Kardamakis, 2009). Among women it is cautioned to use biophosphonates to cure bone pain for a limited period due to certain health risks. As a result, the patient and his/her family is advised to keep use of biophophonates such as zoledronic acid to a bare minimum. Question 4 Loss of a family member is difficult to cope with and the daughters of Mrs. H. underwent grieve when they lost their mother. They lost the friendship, care and affection they had of their mother and this caused pain to them. As a result, they need to undergo psychological counselling for them to come to terms with what happened and be able to experience closure on the issue. Placing Mrs. H. daughters under a support group will assist a lot in ensuring that she gets the necessary support in coping with the situation through sharing experiences with other people who have undergone the same (Zimpfer, 2007). Mrs. H. daughters grieve is different from that of Mrs. H. sister since they both share friendship. This is unlike the daughters who drew support, love, care and presence of their mother. The teenage daughters will take it hard that now they have lost their mother and this might lead to complicated grief. Whereby it will take them a long time to come to terms to what happened. This is further made worse by the fact that they saw their mother in pain while she suffered from cancer. Thus the pain is heightened by their mother’s loss and this might also affect hospital staff that had become fond of Mrs. H. In this situation, the hospital might decide to arrange for a funeral and burial service so as to show care and support for Mrs. H’s family. The family members should also be re-assured that every support that they may need will be accorded to them (Zimpfer, 2007). References Angelos, P. (2007). Ethical Issues in Cancer Patient Care. Lowell, MA: John Wiley and Sons. Kardamakis, D., Vassiliou, V. & Chow E. (2009). Bone Metastases: A translational and clinical approach. Chicago, IL: Routledge. Lemmer, J. & Vlahakes, G. (2009). Handbook of Patient Care in Hospitals. Detroit, MI: Pelshiver. Pierson, F. & Fairchild S. (2009). Principles and techniques of patient care. Boston, MA: John Wiley and Sons. Zimpfer, D. & Humphrey, G. (2007). Counselling for Grief and Bereavement. New York, NY: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Read More