Nurse Case Management Case Management Thesis

Advance Directives should include documented patient decisions about health care, which should be honored (Advanced practice in nursing: ethical and role issues in end-of-life care, 2004).

As medical knowledge and technology increase, so do options for healthcare. When decisions arise concerning the treatment of dying patients, these options present complex ethical dilemmas. Many are faced with decisions about the best treatment to ease a patient's final suffering (End of Life Care: An Ethical Overview, 2005). It is the goal of this team that all care is giving in the utmost ethical way possible.

Improving the end of life and advocating for a good death has become the mission of many dedicated individuals and organizations, and is also a frequent subject of research and focus for policy improvements. Advocates who work to improve the care for dying patients have determined the elements that are necessary for a good death to take place. Common elements of a good death have been identified as the following:

Adequate pain and symptom management

Avoiding a prolonged dying process

Clear communication about decisions by patient, family and physician

Adequate preparation for death, for both patient and loved ones

Feeling a sense of control

Finding a spiritual or emotional sense of completion

Affirming the patient as a unique and worthy person

Strengthening relationships with loved ones

Not being alone (End of Life Care: An Ethical Overview, 2005).

It is vital that this team makes sure that these directives are followed in order to assure that we are providing the patient with the best possible, most ethical health care that is available today.

In order for this team to accomplish what they have set out to do it is important that everyone is on the same page. The team should meet on a regular basis in order to insure that everyone is doing what they are supposed to be doing and that the plan that has been laid down I working to its capacity. If there are changes that need to be made they need to be addresses and documented accordingly. Providing the best possible end of life care is the ultimate goal of this team.

The best way to accomplish that is to use all available resources to the best of our ability.If we come across a situation in which a resource that we think is needed is not readily available then we will do our best to research and find out what resources are available and how we can get what is needed in the best interest of the patient.

The time at the end of one's life is a very hard and difficult time for everyone involved. It is very important that this team does the best possible job that it can do to coordinate all necessary resources and provide the patient and the family with the best possible care. This is not an easy time for anyone but providing the necessary resources and coordinating a patient's care is the best thing that can be done in order to ease some of the burden and stress that plagues a patient and their family during this time.

References

Advanced practice in nursing: ethical and role issues in end-of-life care. (2004). Retrieved

October 2, 2009, from bNet Web site:

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0ICF/is_1_31/ai_n17206703/?tag=content;col1

Congestive Heart Failure. (2009). Retrieved October 2, 2009 from Web site:

http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4585

End of Life Care: An Ethical Overview. (2005). Retrieved October 2, 2009, from Web site:

http://www.ahc.umn.edu/img/assets/26104/End_of_Life.pdf

Failure Complications Congestive Heart. (2009). Retrieved October 2, 2009, from My Heart

Central Web site: http://www.healthcentral.com/heart-disease/surviving-heart-attack-000013_5-145.html

Standards of Care. (n.d.). Retrieved October 2, 2009, from Web site: http://hivcommission-

la.info/cms1_047803.pdf

Walsh, Karyn. (2003). Social Workers in Hospice and Palliative Care Settings. Retrieved October 2, 2009, from Web site:

http://www.socialworkers.org/practice/bereavement/updates/EndOfLifeCare-PU0204.pdf

What Is Hospice Care? (2009). Retrieved October 2, 2009, from the American Cancer Society

Web site:

http://www.cancer.org/docroot/ETO/content/ETO_2_5X_What_Is_Hospice_Care.asp

What is Palliative Care. (2009). Retrieved October 2, 2009, from Get Palliative Care Web site:

http://www.getpalliativecare.org/whatis.....