Evidence-Based Practice in Nursing & Healthcare
Discussion
I work as a nurse in an ICU and so many of the clients I attend to are critically ill. It mostly involves the end of life care. Although practitioners struggle to save all patients and everyone back to healthy lives, they have also understood how to be practical and understand what to anticipate once the patient reaches the end of life. Nevertheless, the past condition of the patient is often considered when making decisions. Healthcare professionals should work in the best interests of the patient and make evidence-based decisions, particularly by utilizing their judgment to facilitate the decision-making of patients (Melynk & Fineout-Overholt 2018).Evidence-Based Practice in Nursing & Healthcare
I had an 89-year-old patient recently who walked many miles a day until six months ago. He had problems with gall bladder and required surgical intervention. The surgeon utilized his judgment and found that the patient was an extraordinarily active 89-year-old who was likely to gain from the surgery. He underwent cholecystectomy, and acquired an ileus while in the facility. After a number of operations, he was discharged with a sludge drain and lived on total parenteral nutrition. He lasted for seven months on TPN before he experienced more complications with his drain, which caused an intra-abdominal abscess. He returned to many more abdominal operations, which also resulted in ARDS and sepsis. The clinical professionals were entirely open with the patient’s family during the whole time, and the most intensive life-saving interventions, including many pressors, maximized ventilation measures, and CRRT. A variety of consultations were held between the healthcare workers and family to decide the action to take, and the family remained pressing, notwithstanding the grim prognosis. Certain family members mentioned that they thought that was not appropriate and that the patient was being tormented. Once they eventually agreed to withhold the treatment, the patient died in a very short time. The situation could have been different if a joint surrogate decision-maker was used early enough.Evidence-Based Practice in Nursing & Healthcare
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Inevitably, decisions on the continuation of life are the choice of the patient and aides. No one has the comfort to make these decisions hence healthcare professionals should have adequate communication skills to promote care decisions (Kon et al., 2016). The responsibility of healthcare providers in joint decision-making is to provide the highest quality research information while considering the patient’s beliefs, priorities, and desires (Kon et al, 2016). By enhancing surrogate awareness, a decision – making support inventory can supplement the practitioner’s plan.
References
Kon, A. A., Davidson, J. E., Morrison, W., Danis, M., & White, D. B. (2016). Shared decision making in intensive care units: An American College of Critical Care Medicine and American Thoracic Society policy statement. Critical Care Medicine, 44(1), 188–201.
Melnyk, B. M., & Fineout-Overholt, E. (2018). Evidence-based practice in nursing & healthcare: A guide to best practice (4th ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Wolters Kluwer Evidence-Based Practice in Nursing & Healthcare