End Of Life Care

Death is inevitable. It is one of the only certainties in life. Regardless, people are often uncomfortable discussing death. Nyatanga (2016) posits that the idea of no longer existing increases anxiety and emotional distress in relation to one’s mortality. Because of the difficulty in level of care for end-of-life patients, the patient and the family often need professional assistance for physical and emotional care. Many family caregivers are not professionally trained in medicine, and this is where hospice comes into play. Hospice aims to meet the holistic needs of both the patient and the patient’s family through treatment plans, education, and advocacy. There is a duality of care to the treatment provided by hospice staff in that they do not attempt to separate the patient’s care from the family’s care. Leming and Dickinson (2011) support that hospice, unlike other clinical fields, focuses on the patient and the family together instead of seeing the patient independent of the family. Many times in hospitals, the medical team focuses solely on the goal of returning the patient back to health in order for them to return to their normal lives. They do not take into account the psychological and spiritual components of the patient’s journey and the journey that the family must take as well. For treatment of the patient, Leming and Dickinson agree that hospice does not attempt to cure patients, and instead concentrates solely

I learned that Aboriginal seniors in Canada have more health care concerns than non-Aboriginal seniors and their needs are not well understood and were taken for granted by health care providers. I can apply in my nursing practice what I have learned from this topic that I will respect and acknowledge their culture and way of life. In addition to that, I will keep in mind that Aboriginal seniors needs more intensive support than non-aboriginal because of what they experienced at the reserved and residential schools. I want to learn more about their traditional practices

The purpose of this paper is to examine communication strategies related to palliative and end-of-life care with a focus on Aboriginal clients. Firstly, I will explain the role of cultural competence in the nursing care of an Aboriginal client. Secondly, I will argue the cultural challenges a nurse may face when caring and communicating with Aboriginal clients receiving palliative end-of-life care. Thirdly, I will present solutions to the aforementioned communicative challenges. Lastly, I will discuss the impact I believe this experience may have on my future practice.

Nurses: Assist the patients and families to cope with the end-of-life process such as assessing and

Comparatively, Bailey et al. (2014) studied the effects of implementing interventions to improve end of life care for inpatient veterans. The problem statement was determined to be that end of life care in the inpatient setting was lacking, which drove the aim of the study to improve EOLC and to minimize suffering of the patients (Bailey et al., 2014). The researchers theorized that this could be accomplished if recognition of end of life was increased and if home-based palliative interventions were implemented. Therefore, the team sought to study the effectiveness of implementing staff education of three items: evaluating patients who are actively dying, communicating end of life interventions with patients and families, and implementing home-based best practices for end of life care (Bailey et al., 2014). The purpose here was to improve inpatient end of life care.

My perception of palliative and Hospice care has changed slightly when it comes to communication with the family. I walked into the hospice unit mentally preparing myself to talk with patient families about their loved one and the dying process; this was certainly not the case. The family and the patient did not want to be bothered unless comfort interventions needed to be carried out and there was no conversation to be had about the patient and his situation. This shows that each family is different, each patient is different; and we need to respect and accommodate their unique

Beatty and Berdahl point out that policymakers and researchers have not paid enough attention to Abriginal seniors’ health care needs. Both authors seek to understand what health care challenges Aboriginal seniors face in Canada what policy methodologies are required to increase the wellbeing and health of Aboriginal seniors in order for them have a better quality of life and respect their culture and needs. Therefore, the authors suggest that policymakers should include four factors to take in considerations: socioeconomic situation, jurisdiction, underutilization of health services available in urban context and elder abuse.

Furthermore, measures need to be taken to increase both the quality and delivery of health care to the indigenous population, including culturally appropriate health services. Each Aboriginal sub-group has their own unique needs that must be taken in account for. Thus, health care

“One Size Fits All?” is the question posed in the title of the journal. This question relates to the problem of how health care professionals discursively frame cultural difference in their professional health accounts of providing cancer care to Aboriginal people and how health care professionals predominantly use Western ways of cancer care to all people disregarding their cultural differences, which then ignores different cultural approaches to cancer care. In other

There are certain procedures to help in providing care for aboriginal people as a nurse its normal that they believe that some illnesses are caused by spirits, they recognise confidentiality in their care so it is wise to take that in to consideration, some patients prefer the nurse to be the same gender as they are so if possible arrange appropriately, some patients might need interpreters or health care workers from their own culture provide them the necessary person to help them with to providing better care and in some instances giving consent to treatments, some patients “need use customary remedies, food and medicine and traditional healers consultation” (Queensland health Australian government, 2014) be mindful about

Patient-centred care has been defined as a delivery of care through planning and evaluation which is beneficial to patients, through working collaboratively and involving them in decisions surrounding their care (Berryman, Palmer, Kohl, & Parham, 2013). Patient-centred care encompasses care in all health settings and patients from beginning to end of life (Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care, 2010). Within patient-centred care are eight concepts, these involve comforting patients, emotional support, supplying information to patients through education and effective communication. Continuity of care, support through transition processes, organisation of care, involving family/whanau in health care and providing access to health services are also embraced (Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care, 2010). Patient-centred care revolves around patient experience and how the patient perceives their health care and service delivery from the health care deliverer (Australian Commission on Safety and

With its colonisation history, Aboriginal people has been the discrepant population on biological, socioeconomic, psychological, geographical and political aspects. These are believed to be the barriers accounting for a poor health outcomes and a low life expectancy comparing to the dominant Australian population. In narrowing the gap of inequality, cultural competency is, therefore, essential to provide Indigenous population a holistic patient-centred care by maintaining cultural safety and sensitivity.

Tibetan’s make up 2.1% of the Australian population, which determines the group as a minority (Ashen.B.2012). The cultural group is particularly vulnerable due to being foreign born, religious symbols and are visibly different (Ashen.B.2012). Due to being vulnerable the cultural group would be harmed because of discrimination and cultural differences between Australians and Tibetan’s. To assist the Tibetan cultural group with the grief and the loss of a loved one there are Australian Tibetan organisations that can be contacted. A nurse would then have to gain the information from the organisations such as, Australian National University, South and West Asia Centre and Karuna Centre, before informing the patient and the patient’s family. The

The Journey of Cultural Practices in End of Life Care initiative is a program under the umbrella of public health and as such reports the stakeholders formed of by the Board of Commissioners. The program coordinator is the current hospice social worker who will instill a less formal style of governance, according to the by-laws of the agency. Unlike the hierarchal and marketing approach of public health, which focuses on the

3. Palliative Care Council of South Australia. (1996). Good palliative care project: final report. Retrieved September 4, 2002, from Palliative Care Council of So