Nursing and End-of-Life Care - Research Paper Example

Nursing and End-of-Life Care Total Number of Words 524 Introduction End-of-life care is all about the ability of nurses to assist the patients and their families throughout the entire dying process or death (Hebert, Moore, & Rooney, 2011). Despite the significant role of nurses when caring for dying patients, most of these healthcare professionals are facing challenges when it comes to issues related to ethical and legal aspects of nursing, the presence of cultural differences, and the inability of some nurses to effectively manage the patients’ pain among many others (Hebert, Moore, & Rooney, 2011). Few years ago, Schlairet (2009) pointed out the fact that there are quite a lot of practicing nurses who either failed to receive proper education or continuing education on end-of-life care; which clearly explains why most of them have insufficient knowledge and skills on end-of-life care. Often times, these practicing nurses are not prepared to meet the healthcare needs of terminally ill patients with dementia (Regan, Tapley, & Jolley, 2014). As a result, the quality of life of terminally ill patients and their family members is adversely affected. In relation to the nurses’ role in palliative care, this report seeks to determine the best ways to improve the nurses’ competency when managing terminally ill patients. As such, this report will seek to determine barriers that could hinder an effective end-of-life care. This report will also highlight ways on how nurses could practice effective communication such as active listening. All these are necessary to ensure that the nurses will be able to earn the patients’ trust and eventually build a stronger nurse-patient relationship. 1.1 Aims / Purpose of the Report The main purpose of this report is to inform the readers about the current research findings and trends in end-of-life care. 1.2 Thesis Statement Informing the readers about the current research findings and trends in end-of-life care could help increase the ability of practicing nurse to improve the quality of life of terminally ill patients and their family members. 2. Contemporary Research and Trends Several studies managed to identify that lack of education (Todaro-Franceschi & Lobelo, 2014; Schlairet, 2009) or limitations in the core curriculum on issues related to end-of-life care (Hebert, Moore, & Rooney, 2011; Malloy et al., 2006) serve as a barrier behind the ability of practicing nurses to uplift the quality of life of terminally ill patients. Other than limitations in education or training, Reynolds, Drew and Dunwoody (2013) mentioned that the high cost of end-of-life care and patient or family denial can serve as a barrier to end-of-life care. Lastly, Hebert, Moore and Rooney (2011) explained that the inability of the nurses to communicate well with the patients and their family members and the limitation in the available time when dealing with terminally ill patients are also some barriers to effective end-of-life care. In real-life practice, there are ethical considerations when delivering end-of-life care (Reynolds, Drew, & Dunwoody, 2013; Giovanni, 2012; Hebert, Moore, & Rooney, 2011). For instance, Reynolds, Drew and Dunwoody (2013) mentioned that ethical issues related to autonomy, beneficence, justice, and nonmaleficence should be considered when providing end-of-life care to terminally ill patients. In line with this, Hebert, Moore and Rooney (2011) pointed out the need to consider these ethical guidelines when making important decisions about the process of caring for the patients. As such, Giovanni (2012) revealed that practicing nurses are ethically responsible when it comes to making sure that the terminally ill patients would receive necessary assistance and care they need throughout the last few days of their lives. To help improve the ability of practicing nurses to uplift the quality of life of each terminally ill patients, several studies strongly recommend the need to enhance the quality of education when it comes to effective pain management (Reynolds, Drew, & Dunwoody, 2013; Hebert, Moore, & Rooney, 2011), human rights (Reynolds, Drew, & Dunwoody, 2013), the need to recognize the different stages of grief (i.e. denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance) and the significance of cultural competencies such as the personal values and beliefs of each terminally ill patient (Hebert, Moore, & Rooney, 2011). Likewise, each of the practioning nurse should also be taught about the importance of using effective communication skills when dealing with the family members and patients who are termminally ill (Hebert, Moore, & Rooney, 2011) as well as the rest of the health and social care team (Skillbeck & Payne, 2005). Lastly, all practicing nurses should also be constantly reminded about the need to provide the patients and their family members with some privacy, offer comfortable room for the patients, and the need to provide them with a room for grieving (Beckstrand et al., 2012). 3. Recommendations Evidences show that one of the main reasons why not all terminally ill patients are receiving the best quality end-of-life care is due to the fact that most of the practicing nurses today are did not receive sufficient or adequate training or education with regards to the universal guidelines on end-of-life care which includes topic related to pain management, human rights, the different stages of grief, cultural competencies, and the use of effective communication skills among many others (Reynolds, Drew, & Dunwoody, 2013; Hebert, Moore, & Rooney, 2011; Skillbeck & Payne, 2005). Considering all the possible barriers behind a successful end-of-life care, the process of continuously promoting the importance of end-of-life care in nursing education is highly recommended (Giovanni, 2012; Schlairet, 2009; Malloy et al., 2006). As a common knowledge, the presence of severe or excessive pain is one factor that can significantly decrease the quality of life of each terminally ill patient. Therefore, in the process of highlighting the importance of end-of-life care in nursing education, the school teachers could adjust the entire nursing curriculum paying more importance on the proper management of pain (Reynolds, Drew, & Dunwoody, 201; Hebert, Moore, & Rooney, 2011; Malloy et al., 2006). In the study of Malloy et al. (2006), the authors strongly suggest that the curriculum of end-of-life nursing education should include not only pain management but also topics related to the proper management of symptoms, legal and ethical issues concerning the caring for terminally ill patients, the significance of cultural differences, the use of effective communication method, strategic ways to improve the quality care given to terminally ill patients, unique nursing care given to patients who are near the end-of-life stage, proper management of grief, loss, and bereavement, and all other necessary preparation need to ensure that the terminally ill patient would receive all necessary care at the time of their death. Often times, the provision of proactive nursing approach to caring is essential (Skillbeck & Payne, 2005). Through continuous education and research studies, all practicing nurses should continuously innovate new ways on how they can further improve nurse-led care given to all terminally ill patients (Skillbeck & Payne, 2005). For instance, it is highly recommended that all practicing nurses should spend a little time doing their own research work concerning ways on how to improve the quality of care given to terminally ill patients. Hebert, Moore and Rooney (2011) strongly suggest that all practicing nurses should at all times be able to create and provide the patients with holistic care that is enriched by compassion and openness. Aside from considering the feelings or emotions of terminally ill patients, Hebert, Moore and Rooney (2011) also highlighted the importance of being able to effectively communicate and translate all information that was being exchanged between the patients and nurses. 4. Conclusion As a common knowledge, all terminally ill patients, whether or not they are 100% conscious or not, deserve to be treated fairly and with respect. In fact, it is the duty and responsibility of all practicing nurses to continuously improve their knowledge and skills when caring for terminally ill patients. To avoid causing unintentional harm to all terminally ill patients, all practicing nurses should make themselves familiar with the ethical and legal considerations when caring for terminally ill patients. A lot of practicing nurses who are attending to the caring needs of terminally ill patients seems to have inadequate knowledge and skills on how they can effectively provide the best nurse-led care to all dying patients (Schlairet, 2009). Despite teaching the nursing students about the significance of end-of-life care in their nursing profession, there seems to be insufficient education or learning experience given to all nurses (Hebert, Moore, & Rooney, 2011). Due to insufficient knowledge and skills concerning the end-of-life care, not all terminally ill patients are receiving the quality care they are supposed to receive from all practicing nurses. To ensure that all terminally ill patients will receive the best quality care from all practicing nurses, most of the current research findings and trends in end-of-life care strongly suggest the need to improve the nursing curriculum on topics related to end-of-life care (Reynolds, Drew, & Dunwoody, 201; Hebert, Moore, & Rooney, 2011; Malloy et al., 2006). In the process of reducing the training or educational gap that is currently present in end-of-life care, there is higher chance that our future practicing nurses can become more prepared, qualified and competitive when it comes to providing all terminally ill patients with holistic care. References Beckstrand, R., Wood, R., Callister, L., Luthy, K., & Heaston, S. (2012). Emergency Nurses Suggestions for Improving End-of-Life Care Obstacles. 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End-of-Life Nursing Care: Statewide Survey of Nurses Education Needs and Effects of Education. Journal of Professional Nursing, 25(3): 170-177. Skillbeck, J., & Payne, S. (2005). End of life care: a discursive analysis of specialist palliative care nursing. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 51(4): 325-334. Todaro-Franceschi, V., & Lobelo, A. (2014). The voice of nurse educators on teaching end of life care in U.S. schools of nursing. Journal of Nursing Education and Practice, 4(4). DOI: 10.5430/jnep.v4n4p165 . Read More