Seeking Opinions on End of Life Care

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Hello all!

I am a current BSN student writing a paper on the ethical considerations of end of life care. I wanted to get some opinions from professionals in the field concerning: advanced directives, symptom management, stages of grief, promoting patient's dignity, the general role of the nurse in the nurse-patient relationship, etc. What are some of the most important steps one can take to promote ethical clinical practice? Any thoughts on the matter would be greatly appreciated.

-Thank you

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I'm working on something similar and would love to hear from other nurses as well. :)

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Specializes in Hospice.

I know it's terribly incorrect to advise a search - something about eating the young - but I'd still advise a search, or perusing the Hospice nursing board. It would help if you would refine your request a bit. Much easier to proffer an opinion when the question is specific, i.e. what do you think about terminal sedation?

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Specializes in L&D, infusion, urology.

Your best bet is to contact a local hospice organization and ask if you can interview a few of the nurses. You have no way of verifying anyone's credentials here.

Additionally, use your written resources, like scholarly journals and articles, even blogs.

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HPNA.org has a lot of good information.

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Everything everyone above said :) plus, if I understand your question correctly, one of the most important steps to promoting ethical clinical practice is communicate, communicate, communicate with the patient and family members.

Listening to your patients and their families is bedrock to ethical care! Listen and find out what they want and document it. Talk about it in interdisciplinary group.

An open, honest, documented dialogue on advanced directives, symptom management, patient dignity and nurse-patient relationships is key...

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