End of life Reflection (Ethics in Nursing)

End of Life Reflection

End of life reflection

Abimbola Adekunle

Resurrection University

NUR 4242: Ethics in Nursing

Prof. Rose Loiacono

6/19/2021.

I will use this end-of-life experience to frequently improve myself in my nursing career since I never had the experience of taking care of a dying patient before this simulation. This simulation has provided me more knowledge especially when it comes to how the family of a patient may react to care, and how uncomfortable the patient might be during the discomfort time. I will make some changes by spending more time with the patient and the family. I will provide comfort as much as I can. Also, I will let the patient and the family know the medications I am about to administer, and what each medication is used for. I will be open to the patient and the family as much as possible about everything about my patient. I also feel like the nurse did not do much handling the situation, all she does was administer the morphine even though the patient was already having respiratory depression. By administering morphine, will make her respiratory rate drop further and lead to her death.

There are various communication methods that a nurse needs to practice and be aware of in other to effectively relate with patients and family. I learned that showing empathy is more important to the patient and the family. I learned to handle my patient with care, speak to them calmly and respectfully as they are going through a lot at the moment. Wonderful communication skill is also another technique can help the family and their patient have a better end-of-life experience. (Patient Engagement HIT, 2019).

Today, I have observed two ethical dilemmas. The first is the nurse administering morphine to the patient even though her respiratory rate is already low putting her to further respiratory depression and eventually death. This is something against the ethical principle of non-maleficence, which is the ethical principle to not harm. Harm was done to the patient in this instance. The second ethical dilemma is autonomy, autonomy gives the patient the right to make decisions about their care. From what I saw, the patient’s daughter was not aware of the morphine administration, which prevented her from saying goodbye to her mother. I was not satisfied with the resolution of the ethical dilemmas. What I would have done differently is informing the daughter of the morphine administration and what it will do to her mother before administering it, thereby giving her a choice whether she wants it at that time or not. This will help her to prepare better at this time.

This simulation experience deepened my beliefs about end-of-life. This is a very hard moment for both the family and the patient, while it is also not an easy moment for the nurse to witness their patient dying and not being able to stop it. This is a sorrowful moment for everyone present. Even though I was not physically present, my heart was broken by watching the video. Nurses must try to do everything they can to provide care, comfort, and advocate for the patient by showing empathy to the family, and show that they do care about the patient (Haahr et al., 2020).

References

Admin. (2019, February 14). How to effectively communicate with a dying patient. Assisted Living Care. https://www.assistedlivingcare.com/blog/how-to-effectively-communicate-with-a-dying-patient/

Haahr, A., Norlyk, A., Martinsen, B., & Dreyer, P. (2020). Nurses' experiences of ethical dilemmas: a review. Nursing Ethics, 27(1), 258-272. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0969733019832941