1) Reflect on what nurses can do when individuals and families are living with suffering. Include a minimum of two citation/reference pairs in your response.
2) Review Standard 8 in the ANA: Nursing Scope and Standards of Practice. How does the role of advocacy fit with Quaternary Prevention?
3) Reflect on quaternary prevention. How does quaternary prevention ‘fit’ with Dr. Gwande’s views?
4) How does ‘informed risk’ fit with decision making?
5) Reflect on the ethical principles of autonomy, beneficence, and maleficence. How to they ‘fit’ in situations of chronic illness?
For the future
Dr. Atul Gwande is a prominent neurosurgeon whose perspective on death and dying changed when his own father was diagnosed with cancer. Dr. Gwande’s work has been very well received and recognized over the last few years. When you have a bit of free time (maybe between semesters), I strongly recommend reading his book titled Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End – well worth your time!
Sample Solution
1) Nurses can help individuals and families living with suffering in many ways. According to the American Nurse Association (ANA, 2020), nurses should be “committed to promoting health, preventing illness, alleviating suffering through the diagnosis and treatment of human response and advocating for patients and their families” (p. 5). Additionally, nurses also play a critical role in providing psychosocial support such as providing education on resources available to cope with difficult emotions or helping to facilitate communication within family dynamics. ANA. (2020). Nursing scope and standards of practice. Silver Spring: Author.
Sample Solution
1) Nurses can help individuals and families living with suffering in many ways. According to the American Nurse Association (ANA, 2020), nurses should be “committed to promoting health, preventing illness, alleviating suffering through the diagnosis and treatment of human response and advocating for patients and their families” (p. 5). Additionally, nurses also play a critical role in providing psychosocial support such as providing education on resources available to cope with difficult emotions or helping to facilitate communication within family dynamics. ANA. (2020). Nursing scope and standards of practice. Silver Spring: Author.
2) Standard 8 of the ANA nursing Scope and Standards of Practice states that nurses “promote social justice through advocacy”; this includes advocating for access to care regardless of race, gender identity/expression, socio-economic status etc. When viewed through the lens Quaternary Prevention—which emphasizes addressing upstream causes rather than downstream effects such as disease—nurses have an important role in working towards improving patient outcomes by calling attention to any systemic issues limiting access or delivery healthcare services.(Holtzclaw & Knebel 2018). Holtzclaw M., & Knebel E..(2018). Primary Care: The art and science of advanced practice nursing(4th ed.). Philadelphia: FA Davis Company.
3) Dr Gwande\’s views emphasize a person-centered approach emphasizing quality-of-life when facing chronic illnesses instead viewing life merely extending it at all costs – something which is very much aligned with quaternary prevention strategies which prioritize addressing upstream factors leading/contributing to poor health outcomes as well as minimizing harm from medical interventions themselves whenever possible.(Holtzclaw & Knebel 2018). Holtzclaw M., & Knebel E..(2018). Primary Care: The art and science of advanced practice nursing(4th ed.). Philadelphia: FA Davis Company.
4) Informed risk taking involves weighing both potential benefits/beneficence along with potential risks/harm associated when making decisions regarding a particular action or course-of-treatment.(Keefe et al., 2020). This means that after carefully considering all available evidence, one must accept some degree uncertainty while understanding that even though certain choices may involve certain levels risk they still might be beneficial overall based on the individual situation Keefe FJ., Williams DA.. Cavanaugh JT.,Sommerville RK.(2020). Pain management principles(7th ed.). Burlington : Jones&Bartlett Learning.
5) Autonomy respect for an individual’s decision making capacity (Keefe et al., 2020); beneficence concerns doing good or avoiding causing harm; maleficence focuses on protecting against intentional acts intended cause harm Keefe FJ., Williams DA.. Cavanaugh JT.,Sommerville RK.(2020). Pain management principles(7th ed.). Burlington : Jones&Bartlett Learning These three ethical principles are closely intertwined when dealing with situations involving chronic illness since nurse must balance respecting autonomy while doing what is best for the patient – which may not always be easy given different perspectives held by various stakeholders involved
