End Of Life Practices

.“As medical technology continues to advance and health care choices become more complicated, the preservation of end-of-life autonomy is an increasingly important issue faced by various client populations.” (Galambos, 1998).

Key people could be family, doctors, carers, religious leaders etc. Each may own distinctive role to play in order for the choices and preferences of the individual to be respected and carried out. [ Every person’s end-of-life trajectory is different and needs differ in intensity and quality over time. End-of-life care must adapt to the varying and changing needs of the individual over time and that it cannot be limited to certain settings or services. The provision of good

The topic of end-of-life care may seem daunting and uncomfortable, and yet most individuals do have unique desires and concerns regarding their provision for the future. Providing the opportunity for that communication, the advance directive and POLST forms allow an individual to explicitly state their wishes before the future. Developed to lessen the apprehensions concerning patients undergoing any extensive and unwanted measures to preserve life at any cost, these medical directives lighten the decision-making burden for physicians and families alike and help comply with the patient’s utmost end-of-life wishes.

When a person is dying, each culture has traditions and beliefs that influence end- of-life care. This paper discusses cultural beliefs and practices surrounding end of life care and death within the Latino culture, particularly focusing on people of Mexican origin. According to Spector (2013), of the over 50.5 million Hispanic individuals living in the U.S, Mexicans make up the overwhelming majority of the Hispanic community. Understanding how Mexican-Americans traditionally view end-of-life care allows a health care worker to better serve the patient as the patient transitions from acute care to palliative care or hospice care. Cultural attitudes influence the process of decision making at the end-of-life.

In addition to advance directives, there are other decisions involving end of life care that people should think about and discuss with their loved ones. These are decisions are around the ‘how’ and ‘where’ that people wish to die. These types of measures may be touched on in one’s advance directives, but may not go into great detail. If diagnosed with a terminal disease or if the end of life is imminent, one should decide on the type and amount of treatment they receive. With death as a certainty, most people turn toward either palliative care or hospice

The terminally ill think about not only their life but how their decisions will impact their family after passing. They turn this fear of disappointment into a burdensome feeling which make them feel as if they family does not want to take care of them or take on their issues. Studies conducted by the NCBI, in “Patients’ Experiences of Being a Burden on Family in Terminal Illness” show how when asking participants about end of life care their response was they “wanted to feel that they were not being a burden on family or society was one of the eight factors rated as important by most patients but not seen as important by most of the doctors.” By allowing patients to seek PAS, they are opening the door to liquidate this feeling. If a patient knows he or she can take PAS to resolve these worries in the end they will have a more peaceful transition into

This film explains the legal role of advance directives in end of life issues. An advance directive is “a written document directing how medical decisions are to be made in the future when the patient lacks decisional capacity and is unable to decide and choose” (Hanlon, End of Life Issues, Slide 28, Bullet 1). All three of the cases demonstrate the importance in filling out some form of directive. When there is nothing to go off of, it makes decisions extremely tough for families and medical providers. Having legal documentation of patient wishes helps understand what treatments they would or would not consent to. In cases like

If doctors told that person is on last stage of life than most of family members usually want available their selves to cleanse and prepare the body. when death occurs in a family report to eldest family member, spouse, or parents; open and public emoting expected but varies. Attitudes toward organ donation. Continues to be taboo to donate organs or blood; exceptions for immediate family needs (may hasten own death if donor); some religious restrictions .

As complex an issue as physician assisted-death is, it is also one of great merit that offers an opportunity to explore a better understanding of the human experience. Physician assisted-death is often coupled with the term euthanasia and although it can be seen as a form of euthanasia, it differs in that the patient is in the control of the process through which they commit the act of suicide. In the consideration of the role of a human service professional during the procedure that is physician assisted-death (PAD), it is important to note the cultural and socioeconomic differences that affect both the understanding of PAD and a patient’s decision about the matter. A person’s ethno-cultural identity will give them a certain view on what

The decision to take on such a topic such as advanced directives was not an easy one. The DNP student did not know if the community of healthcare providers would be receptive in participating in such a program. The DNP student has been embedded in the Haitian culture to know that there is an existing issue in discussing of end-of-life care in the Haitian community.

Pew Research Center (2013) data indicates that 35% of Americans state that their wishes would be for a provider to do everything possible to preserve their life even with no hope for improvement and tremendous pain. This trend of sedentary lifestyles combined with poor health behaviors and death denying cultural attitudes must be addressed. The end of life care that we will all be faced with at some point currently accounts for a vast amount of resources, the majority of which are spent in the final months of care (Klinger, in der Schmitten, & Marckmann,

I have chosen to write about one of my service users who i was extremely close to and who has a special place in my heart, I had nursed Mrs Mc for 4years before her passing. Mrs Mc was an elderly lady who was 79yrs old when she passed away and sadly she had Korsakoffs which is a brain disorder associated with heavy alcohol consumption, people with this experience short term memory loss it is also knowing as “alcohol related dementia”.

Caring for a terminally ill patient can be a difficult task for a nurse. Caring for a dying patient from a different country with different culture and beliefs can be even more uncomfortable. The cultural knowledge deficit of Middle Eastern Americans in the United States is astonishing (Lipson & Meleis, 1983, p. 855). To give competent care to patients from different countries, healthcare workers must expand their comprehension of different cultural backgrounds. Middle Eastern Americans population is rapidly growing in the United States. It is important to gain knowledge to properly care for these patients. This paper identifies Middle Eastern Americans beliefs related to death, how their beliefs are related to my own, and the role of

Everyone has different challenges they must overcome in this life; however, all people must face the reality of death. While the transition to death seems naturally uncontrollable, many people are now expressing their wishes concerning end-of-life care. The various choices individuals have about if, when, and how to end their life have been expanding in not only recent decades, but in recent years. Therefore, it is important for social workers to be abreast on how this topic affects clients and the overall profession. Andrew McCormick, a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker, wrote “Self-Determination, the Right to Die, and Culture: A Literature Review” to show social workers how the complexities surrounding the right-to-die movement affect their interactions with clients. This critical analysis will explore the points of McCormick’s review and the suggestions he has for social workers. He positively considers the value of self-determination in addition to the need for cultural competency. Even though he is right to mention that this issue is not ethically clear at all times for social workers, he does not apply the strengths perspective or the value of empowerment to his article. Furthermore, he does not empower social workers by informing them of how they can overcome their potential personal bias and fear of death and the right-to-die issue.

Culturally, death is considered a taboo in America. It is not discussed, and it is considered inappropriate to ask someone what their “death plans” are regarding an do not resuscitate order, hospice care, burial vs cremation. Instead of embracing macabre, shunning it from open discussion not only hurts the elderly who may feel unvalidated about their own death, but also not discussing it could mean their wishes about where they want to die could not be heard. Authors Merrill Singer and Hans Baer, authors of Introducing Medical Anthropology, categorize health in three categories, cultural conceptions, social construction, and human biology. Cultural conceptions are “culturally constituted ways of experiencing pain or exhibiting disease symptoms” (Singer 2007: p. 10). This could include what doctors should disclose with patients regarding death. Each culture has different ways of handling illness; in America, medicine is quickly used, yet in the Hmuong culture, they use shamans. This cultural difference is shown in the book The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down where cultural differences become an issue while dealing with medical care. Doctors are not taught in medical schools what to do when a family would like to bring in a shaman, or even preform animal rituals. The doctors in the book quickly discredited their cultural healing