Question

End-of-life care becomes an issue at some point for elderly clients. Even with the emergence of palliative care programs and hospice programs, the majority of elderly people do not die in their own home as is their preference. What are the reasons for this trend? Discuss what you can do as a nurse to support your clients in end-of-life care and in supporting their desires. Support your response with evidence-based literature.

Answer 1

Reasons for the trend of majority of elderly people do not for in their own home as their preference:

1. Denial: problem is our societies denial of death and unable to make own decisions. No acknowledgment of warning days of life .
2. Lack of awareness: while advance directives are supported by state laws, there is still no clear process to allow an individual wishes to be known and ensure that care is tied to those documents.
3. Confusion: despite of strong preference for quality of life at the end of life, many Americans worry about potential conflicts between palliative care and doing whatever it takes to extend a patients life.
4. Cultural differences: compared to whites blacks are more likely to die in the hospital . Some differences may be due to minorities, lower usage of hospice services and advance care planning.

Nurse support in end of life care :

• Pain and symptom management
• Culturally sensitive practises
• Assisting patients and their families through the death and dying process
• Ethical decision making