Topic 5 DQ 2

At some point, end-of-life often becomes an issue for the elderly individuals as well as

their families. Even though most elderly clients often prefer to die at their homes close to their

loved ones, most of them often end up in care centers and die at a different place rather than they

wish. In most cases, family members often feel uncomfortable taking care of their elderly when

nearing end-of-life and often prefer to place them in hospice care, palliative care, nursing homes,

or other institutions to be cared for by others on a 24-hour watch. Some of the factors

contributing to this rising trend include confusion, lack of awareness, cultural beliefs, values, and

educational background. In some instances, the elderly clients may prefer to die at a hospice or

palliative care. However, some cultures may not allow their elderly to die somewhere other than

their homes for a peaceful depart (Chung et al., 2017).

As a nurse, one can do several things to support a client during the end-of-life care and

support their desires. Therefore, to support their clients, a nurse may be required to discuss plans

for discharge with their patients to reinforce expectations of a choice of place of care during the

end-life care. While planning for their clients’ end-of-life care, nurses must also comprehend that

many palliative patients often lack a choice of care at home depending on their health conditions,

the resources at their homes, or the types of treatments they receive during the end-of-life care

(Croxon, Deravin, & Anderson, 2018).

Therefore, helping the patient and family to make informed decisions about the end-of-

life is important. For instance, as a nurse, one may support the client through suggesting an

Advance Directive, Living Will, or a Power of Attorney help the patient and family lay down

their desires to guide the care they can receive or not and meet their needs at the end-of-life care.

In this case, the nurses need to consider decisions to relieve suffering and the values and beliefs
of the dying client and his family (Izumi, 2017). Therefore, healthcare practitioners need to know

how to deal with the end-of-life and get both the dying patients and their families involved in the

decision-making process.
 References

Chung, R. Y. N., Wong, E. L. Y., Kiang, N., Chau, P. Y. K., Lau, J. Y., Wong, S. Y. S., ... &

Woo, J. W. (2017). Knowledge, attitudes, and preferences of advance decisions, end-of-

life care, and place of care and death in Hong Kong. A population-based telephone

survey of 1067 adults. Journal of the American Medical Directors Association, 18(4),

367-e19.

Croxon, L., Deravin, L., & Anderson, J. (2018). Dealing with end of life—New graduated nurse

experiences. Journal of clinical nursing, 27(1-2), 337-344.

Izumi, S. (2017). Advance care planning: the nurse's role. AJN The American Journal of

Nursing, 117(6), 56-61.