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Nursing Ethics: Palliative Care

Introduction

Reduction of pain and suffering is an ethical measure that is intrinsic to medical care. In particular, palliative care and hospice aims at reducing pain and suffering of patients that are terminally ill together with their families. In particular, it aims at giving a terminally ill person quality care in order to prepare him or her for a credible death. This is also psychologically relieving especially for close family members who tend to be greatly disturbed whenever their family member experiences immense pain. This practice has always been compounded by various ethical concerns. From a leadership perspective, one of the issues that have raised significant ethical concerns pertains to the issuance of pain relieving medicine against the wishes of the patients. In some instances, nursing officials liaise with the relatives to make decisions about the patient’s condition. I particular, they prescribe and give medicine against the will of the patients. Notably, this infringes upon the rights of the patients to make individual decisions. In addition, it can be considered a form of disrespect for the patient’s decisions.

Essentially, patients under palliative care need to be given quality care in a bit to reduce their pain and suffering. The role of nursing in this regard is to prescribe and give relevant medicine that would ease the pain and ensure that patients lead a quality life during this period of time. On the other hand, the decision of the patient with respect to whether to take medicine or not needs to be respected by the given nurses. From an ethical point of view, the best approach in this respect is to prescribe and give treatment accordingly. However, this needs to be permitted by the patient in order to attain optimal results. To bridge the gap, it would be important for the nurses to objectively inform the patient accordingly and seek his or her permission before commencing treatment. Use of persuasion strategies would enable the nurses to attain this goal.

A study carried out by Cutshall (2001) in four state hospitals in 2000 found out that patients who were well informed about the importance of palliative care before treatment were unlikely to resist it along the way. Further, this study recommended that in order to enhance output, palliative care needs to be undertaken in a home environment and family members should also undergo pre counseling. This is imperative to enable them deal with any emergent issues effectively. If this participative and integrative approach is undertaken, the quality of palliative care is likely to increase significantly. In their consultative review, Randall and Downie (1999) ascertain that such ethical concerns undermine the quality of service provided by the nurses and expose the patients to immense pain that can otherwise be controlled.

From the preceding analysis, it is certain that palliative care is compounded by different ethical concerns. Notably, the rights of the patients with respect to making decisions about treatment are undermined when nurses are forced to give medication when patients are in great pain. In order to reconcile the inherent gaps and ensure that the relationships between the patients and nurses are not compromised by certain decisions, it is imperative to provide sufficient information regarding palliative care to the patients. This would enable both the patients and their families to make informed and objective decisions and avoid conflicts that undermine the quality of treatment.

References

Cutshall, S. (2001). The art of Being a Healing Presence. USA: Willoegreen Publishing.

Randall, F. & Downie, S. (2001). Palliative Care Ethics. Oxford: University Press.