NURSE'S ROLE

WHAT IS THE NURSE'S ROLE IN PROVIDING EMOTIONAL SUPPORT FOR PATIENTS' AT THE END OF LIFE?



CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

This chapter of the research tends to develop an understanding and identify the reasons for conducting a research onto the identified topic. However, in the context of this paper this chapter would inculcate the notions related to the impact and significance of nurse's role in providing emotional support for patients' at the end of life.

Background

People are living longer today due to life style changes, advanced technology and treatment of illnesses. End of life care has become a field of nursing practice that requires intense focus on meeting the patients' and families' needs. Competency begins with an understanding of communication skills and quality end of life care. The use of performance and outcome measures of care are gaining support and momentum. Numerous areas in end of life nursing already employ their use, and a growing number of end of life nursing venues identify and use indicators to evaluate quality patient care for nursing, medicine and in-patient hospital care especially when the patient is nearing end of life.

This trend has led several national groups interested in improving EOL care to declare that identifying quality indicators is necessary to bring about meaningful change in the EOL arena. Patients therefore require great care when they do realize that they have reached the stage rendered as end of life (EOL). Patients not only require great care but they also need to be consoled, since there is greater chance that they might not accept the fact and in return tend to revolt. Therefore, the role of the nurses tend to be enhanced when it comes to looking after and caring for the patients who are nearing or are at the stage of End of Life (EOL).

Chronically and critically ill patients along with the frail elderly are shuttled between interfaces of care at an alarming rate and number, as evidenced by the tremendous utilization of resources expended during the last six months of life. Therefore, in an effort to conserve energy at the EOL, nurses who tend to look after such patents must provide continuity of care, smooth transitions from setting to setting, or optimally minimize the number of transfers that take place. To profile continuity of care during the stage which is rendered as End of Life (EOL), each hospital stay should examine the size of the multi-disciplinary team that consists of nurses who have handled such cases before, in order to ensure that the patients receive the optimum care. Having a nurse with such a profile will assist the identifying medical services. Plus, it will also ensure that disease processes prone to high utilization in expensive areas of care contribute to less than satisfactory EOL experiences for patients and families alike.

Research Questions

Researchers develop questions to accommodate intents of the study. These questions focus on examining and defining direction of the research. Research questions relate to the topic in a broader sense and determine if the research ...