Reflective Journal - Coursework Example

Reflective Journal- My Clinical Experience in Provident Hospital al Affiliation) Reflective Journal- My Clinical Experience in Provident HospitalAn elderly patient suffering from a terminal disease, cancer had been receiving medical attention from our Provident Hospital in Washington DC for about 8 months. Though we had managed to contain the medical condition, the patient continued to experience immense suffering and pain. One morning I experienced a disturbing clinical experience while attending the patient.

The elderly and terminally ill patient refused all medications and requested for physician aid-in-dying. The patient quoted unending suffering, old age, and eminent death as the motivators for the physician aid-in-dying request. I considered the legal and ethical aspects that surround physician aid-in-dying before responding to the patient. Though I understood the patient’s tribulations, I was also wary of the complexities in the patient’s request. In a respectful and caring way, I explored the request to understand its origin and established potential interventions to alleviate the motivators of the request.

The patient was clearly depressed and hence I opted to counsel her proposed palliative care and hospice as potential and effective alternatives. After 2 days of counseling, continued family support, and assistance from a palliative care specialist, the patient dropped the physician aid-in-dying request.The clinical experience was positive in that it reminded me of the significance of counseling in handling the elderly and terminally ill patients. The physical, mental, social, and spiritual suffering experienced by such patients leads to depression that may compel patients to request for the ethically and legally controversial physician aid-in-dying (Plaisted, 2013).

Counselors, supportive families, and palliative care specialists can help in nursing elderly and terminally ill patients. However, the clinical experience was negative since it manifested how patients disregard medications, make irrational decisions, and give up on nursing care for terminal illness. This jeopardizes the capacity to manage terminal illness. Indeed, physician aid-in-dying request demeans many effective alternatives that can ease terminal suffering and guarantee long life (Plaisted, 2013).

I would have made the situation better by recommending frequent counseling sessions for the patient since it was clear he would spend a long time in our hospital. Moreover, I would have consulted professional colleagues regarding physician aid-in-dying. Indeed, other professional colleagues would have helped in addressing most of the patient’s issues. For instance, palliative care specialists would have helped the patient to explore and understand all alternatives that relate to his terminal medical condition (Plaisted, 2013).

An account of the personal stressors that motivated the patient to request for physician aid-in-dying would have enhanced the patient’s decision-making capacity. Indeed, I wish I had evaluated the depressing conditions that the patient experienced.The clinical experience will make me a better nurse in the future since I gained sufficient knowledge on the motivators of a physician aid-in-dying request among terminally ill patients (Plaisted, 2013). The experience confirmed the important roles played by nurses in caring for patients in depressed and desperate situations like eminent long-suffering or death.

I must, therefore, seek to offer expert care at all times. Additionally, I gained subtle knowledge of other professionals who can complement the health care for terminally ill patients. Indeed, the significance of counseling and palliative care manifested in my clinical experience. The clinical experience encouraged me to consider the legal and ethical implications of patient’s requests experienced in nursing care.ReferencePlaisted, D. (2013). An undignified side of death with dignity legislation.

 Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal, 23(3), 201-28.