Question

Case Scenario: Mr. Wu’s Story (adapted from Burkhardt, Nathaniel & Walton, 2018, p. 118)

Read the following case scenario, then apply your understanding of values clarification by answering the questions in the graded Week 4 Discussion Board forum called Personal Values Clarification.

82-year-old Mr. Wu has been hospitalized with a stroke that has left him severely incapacitated - he can transfer to a wheelchair with assistance, but needs help for toileting, feeding, bathing and dressing. He has expressive aphasia so it is difficult for him to speak clearly and it is uncertain how much he understands in a conversation. Prior to his stroke, the widowed Mr. Wu lived with his daughter Sophia and her family (husband Marc and their three small children). He was a supportive and helpful member of the family, providing occasional child-care and helping with small household tasks.

The physician feels Mr. Wu is ready for discharge and is being pressured by the hospital administration to free up bed-space. The physician has suggested that Mr. Wu go to a nursing home and she has asked the nurses to try to talk the family into it.

Sophia has told you on a previous occasion that she feels she should take him home with her because her faith and culture say she should provide care for her parents. She is the eldest in the family and her siblings live far away, so she feels it is her duty to care for their father. But the Wu family house is small and Mr. Wu can no longer manage stairs, so they would need to add a bathroom to the ground floor. Sophia also has concerns because she works full time. Sophia has considered quitting her job in order to care for her father, but the family needs her income because her husband’s work is seasonal. They cannot afford to hire a caregiver during the day when Sophia is at work.

You overhear Sophia and her husband in the hallway outside Mr. Wu’s room. Her husband is speaking very firmly: “I just don’t see how we could possibly do it. It is too much for you to take on with all the other things you do. And I wouldn’t know how to take care of him. Looking after the old folks was not something we did in my family.”

Sophia replies, “I don’t know what to say. I just want to do what’s best for Dad. When he came to live with us I promised him – we promised him - that he’d always have a place with us.”

Marc replies, “But he doesn’t remember that promise. He doesn’t remember anything.”

The Discussion Board questions about this scenario are as follows:

1. What are your own values in this situation? (Imagine this were your own family.)
2. How might your own values affect your actions as a nurse?
3. What might the patient’s and family’s values be in this situation?
4. Is there a values conflict here? If so, how might you begin to resolve this conflict?

Answer 1

1.Taking care of our parents is our duty.As they took care of us we should also take care them because we will also once become old and we should through our ways show our next generation how to take care your parents.Either I may hire a caretaker or ask other person in the family to take care of the Father.

2.As a nurse we should take care of them by giving our best.by considering them as our own parents we should talk to them ,make them feel secured, and confident.

3.Patient is too old, he cannot we give his response.He may be ready to accept anything because he is weak. Family's value here the daughter wants to take care her father but she is forced to work too as her husband is having seasonal work.Here her husband shows a another character too, he also wants to take care the Father but when he consider the family's situation he feels his wife cannot manage all these things like job , taking care of parent. here we can see caring mentality of husband to his wife.

4. Actually there is no value conflict in this case as per my concern.From a daughter's view she wants to take care of her father, and as a husband's view he is much cared about his wife .So in this situation either they can keep a care taker to look after her father by finding a new job for husband in order to satisfy money need or he could look after the Father as his work his just seasonal .