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Showing posts from November, 2017

Have you, or when was the last time, you lied to a patient or their family?

Have you ever been in a circumstance where you lied to a patient or their family? There may come a time when you are trying to relay information and the family doesn't comprehend what's happening, and you may, say, save someone's feelings with a white lie. Are there instances where it could be for the better, to help families or patients cope with loss. here's a story from Allnurses.com worth reading. Warning, it's a tear jerker. I got the call on the EMS radio around 5 am. This is the usual time we get calls from EMS responding to nursing homes- The nurses are rounding on their patients to give am meds, and they find their residents dead or in distress. An 87 yo female, febrile, and in severe respiratory distress coming in. Pt is a DNR, but family is very involved, is aware, and will meet them in the ER. I'm alerted that family is in the waiting room before the patient even gets there. I go out and introduce myself, tell them I will be her nurse, and that

Nursing Practice During a Disaster: Some Considerations

Nursing is by nature a profession based on caring compassion and the desire to alleviate suffering and facilitate healing. The nursing profession has and will play a vital role in the response to any disaster. This fact has been acknowledged by the Institute of Medicine(IOM) in their report The Future of Nursing Leading Change and Advancing Health. The IOM has also created the report titled Guidance for Establishing Crisis Standards of Care for Use in Disaster Situations. The nation has coped with disasters such as the 9/11 terrorist, hurricanes, and pandemics. Some disasters require an all out immediate health care response, other disasters require a more planned response over a longer period of time. The IOM has distinguished disasters by calling them pervasive or catastrophic. However, every disaster requires a different allocation of resources, and maximum output of health care personnel. Care decisions are made in a compressed time frame and the standard of care will change. Th