Please help with case study for Nursing School

[Ireynolds87]

Here is the case scenario.

You have been working in the Critical Care unit for 18 months. one evening john, a 40 year old male patient, was admitted with a serious head injury. He has a history of mental illness and has been living with his 80 year old parents for the last 15 years

After being on life support for 3 days his parents came to the unit and stated they wanted everything stopped and to have him removed from life support. After taking the appropriate measures, the team began to remove the life support equipment. After removing the breathing tube, john opened his eyes and loojked at his family and said " why are trying to kill me?"

as the nurse assigned to john, what do you do?

please help

[HealthShepherd]

Before a patient is removed from life support, a brain scan is taken. This story you present sounds like something on T.V. If by a slim chance this was to occur this way, I would think the situation would turn from ending life to saving it. The family has taken care of him for him many years, I'm sure they value life.

Steelcityrn has it right... this sounds like a TV hospital situation. So ask yourself, what would a TV nurse do? The answer, of course, is to lower your eyes and say, "Yes, doctor," then go and shag an intern beside an open narcotics drawer.

Hope that helps.

[LA_StudentNurse]

I stand by my point. As far as the scenario, as one pointed out that it sounds like a TV soap opera, the information came from the agency offering the scholarship.

However, I note that a previous post was severely edited....hmmmm

[imenid37]

Not sure about homework, scholarship, etc. That's your business. How about exploring how ethical principles like benificence, autonomy, etc. impact the nurses responsibilities and go from there?

[NurseHotFlash]

Hi Ireynolds87, I was really surprised to see the replies you got. I didn't think you were trying to get anyone "to do" your work. It seems to me you are gathering information upon which to base your own opinion. As I see it, that is what any good student, or nurse for that matter should be doing. I am the mother of a schizophrenic son, and I have had durable power of attorney, health care surrogate, and all the other legal means to assist my son for years. I think the key in this scenario, is whether or not the parents have the legal rigth to make decisions for their son. If they do, then their decision should stand. That doesn't mean a nurse cannot assure the patient that he is not being "killed", but rather that great care is being taken to make him as comfortable as possible.

[aura_of_laura]

I think that everyone's being a little judgmental. The OP has said in several previous posts that she is starting an accelerated BSN program in summer 2010.

Am I the only one who regularly googles stuff? Anytime I have a work or school problem, I like to see what's out there, what people are thinking on a topic - it doesn't make anyone a plagiarist. As long as OP uses her own words, I don't see why it's wrong to give opinions - it's not like most of our opinions are scholarship-worthy to begin with.

Good luck to you, OP!

[cherrybreeze, ADN, RN]

I think that everyone's being a little judgmental. The OP has said in several previous posts that she is starting an accelerated BSN program in summer 2010.

Am I the only one who regularly googles stuff? Anytime I have a work or school problem, I like to see what's out there, what people are thinking on a topic - it doesn't make anyone a plagiarist. As long as OP uses her own words, I don't see why it's wrong to give opinions - it's not like most of our opinions are scholarship-worthy to begin with.

Good luck to you, OP!

This isn't Google. It also isn't an issue of "plagiarism." The people on the scholarship committee want to know how this person thinks, not how we think. If the OP looks up issues regarding end of life care and ethics, that's great...that's research; asking people here, experienced nurses and such, isn't research, it's asking someone else to do your work for you. Same with homework questions. Once the OP gets enough responses here, they can no longer answer the question from their own perspective, which is what is needed.

How did I ever get through nursing school without having a place like this to come to when the questions got tougher?

To say that most of the opinions on the answer to the question aren't scholarship-worthy, well, how would you know this? It's actually an impossible statement to make, not to mention just not nice...once you have experience in the field, you can't possibly answer the question as an UNexperienced person. That's the whole point. They want to know how the unexperienced person tackles the question. If they start that process by Googling topics they feel relate to it, and then forumlate an answer, fine. But again, this isn't that.

[LA_StudentNurse]

I think the subject has been discussed at length. It is starting to become a bashing session, which is not the purpose of AllNurses. Let' move on. :hug:

[cherrybreeze, ADN, RN]

I think the subject has been discussed at length. It is starting to become a bashing session, which is not the purpose of AllNurses. Let' move on. :hug:

If people still have something to say, and to respond with, they're welcome to do so. I don't see any "bashing"? Why is it always considered that when someone doesn't share the same opinion as someone else? I really don't get it?

[NurseHotFlash]

Ironic that "Google" is considered a good research resource, but experienced nurses are not. I still believe that good communication with experienced nurses stimulates a student to do further research. P.S. Dear Student: Don't use Wikapedia as a resource, even if Google lists it first in line!