Advanced Concept Module: Critical Care Issues
The student is to write a 2-3 pages essay on one of the following issues in critical care nursing:
Ethical Issues and Dilemmas in Critical Care Nursing
Family Centered Critical Care Nursing
The essay should be written according to APA format (include title page and reference page). Please refer to Writing Reminders under Resources on ECN. References for all essays must include the textbook reading on the topic and a minimum of two (2) current nursing journal articles.
Topic 1 Ethical Issues and Dilemmas in Critical Care Nursing (Morton Ch 7 & 6)
Ethical dilemmas are often encountered by nurses practicing in the critical care areas and nurses often find themselves “caught in the middle”. Some of the situations encountered are refusal of treatment by the patient, withdrawing treatment, informed consent, medical futility, do not resuscitate (DNR) orders, living wills, power of attorney, access to care, end of life decision making, etc. The nurse often becomes involved in the situation by providing support, education, and guidance to family members when ethical decisions need to be made. It is important that nurses have a firm foundation in the ethical principles that are utilized to provide the basis for reasoning, decision-making and action. It is essential that nurses not only apply these principles, but also demonstrate empathy and caring for the patient and family.
The following areas of discussion are to be included in the essay:
a case study from an actual patient cared for or observed this semester in clinical – explain the specific ethical situation and all persons involved (i.e. family members, decision-maker, health care team) (my patient had breast cancer in 2019 and then decided to take holistic approach and not to seek medical treatment, recently she came in to the emergency with fatigue and weakness and they discovered she has multiple cancer lesions in the brain and the cancer spread all over her lymph nodes. she is in the ICU and needs immediate surgery to remove brain lesand start chemotherapy, but she would not give consent and did not want her daughter to know about anything. the doctors then finally called the daughter and got consent to do the surgery.
discussion of the moral and ethical principle(s) involved in this situation
discussion of all possible options for this situation
the final decision arrived at in this case and effectiveness
include your own thoughts and feelings and any participation you had in the situation
Topic 2 Family Centered Critical Care Nursing (Morton Ch 3 & 4)
Family members of critically ill patients have a need for information, a need for reassurance and support, and a need to be near the patient. Family centered care is a philosophical approach to care that recognizes the needs of patients’ family members as well as the important role that family members play during a patient’s illness (Hennemann & Cardin, 2002). Nursing care of families effects the coping skills and outcomes for families. This essay should discuss an actual patient situation observed during semester and include the following:
a case study explaining the specific patient situation (history of disease or injury, prognosis for recovery and/or survival)
description of family members and discussion of your assessment of specific family needs in this situation – provide rationale for your assessment
discussion of nursing interventions provided for the family and discussion of nursing interventions that would have been beneficial to provide to this family
include your own thoughts and feelings and any participation you had in the situation
evaluation of current critical care environment and nursing approach to family-centered care utilizing current information and information from the article by Henneman and Cardin (do not address the lack of implementation of family-centered care that is outdated information in this article)
Reference: Hennemann, E. A. & Cardin, S. (2002). Family-centered critical care: A practical approach
to Making it happen. Critical Care Nurse, 22(6), 12-19.
The essay should be written according to APA format (include title page and reference page). Please refer to Writing Reminders under Resources on ECN. References for all essays must include the textbook readingon the topic and a minimum of two (2) current nursing journal articles.