Taking a class and need help with a nursing topic,please.

[CrystalClear75, BSN, RN]

Hi, in our philosophy class, we have to give an example for our major that deals with arguments and disagreements(of course my major is nursing). It's refering to this question in the book which is "With what type of questions does philosophy deal? Give an example...he says the example should deal with our own major. LIke all the questions that philosophy deals with...all of the questions and unknowns, where we have doubts and where we need to change our minds. He says in these exact words, "There are unknowns, that people are still trying to figure out, in your own college major, there are theories that have been challenged and are being challenged. He also says, "In our major, there are still questions that people wonder about. So pick a topic relating to challenging theories that produce theories and arguments" I was thinking of euthanasia(sp?) the injection to those who are dying in pain per say. Is that a good one? Could you give me some ideas, I don't know what to write, thanx.

[rninme]

Universal Health Care

Nurse:Patient ratios and better patient outcomes

Use of nonlicensed workers in direct patient care

[Daytonite, BSN, RN]

I have seen this kind of scenario happen a couple of times during my career: A patient goes to surgery to have an exploratory lap. Upon opening the abdominal cavity the surgeon(s) find the patient has widely metastatic cancer. The patient is sutured up (referred to as an Open and Close) and sent back to the nursing unit to die. They remain in a comatose state. The surgeon will write orders for pain medication PRN. Now, the question and conflict is this. . .do you medication someone for pain who is in a coma if they don't seem to be in pain? Do you deliberate attempt to elicit a painful response in order to justify giving prn pain medication? How do you know that the pain medication you give isn't going to be a direct cause of the patient's death?

I saw a doctor go up to one of these patients who was clearly sedated and quiet although comatose and press on their belly which got a horrid groan from the person. He turned to the nurse and told her to give the patient 15mg of Morphine IM right now. I've also seen comatose patients like this who have been hanging on for three days and found them very restless (restlessness is a physical condition where the patient moves their extremities continuously) and no one had given them any pain medication for many, many hours. I never had a problem giving them a shot which almost always settled them down.

[CrystalClear75, BSN, RN]

Thanks a lot for your help. I'm taking this test aug 3 so I will be coming back to this site !! Thank you;)