Yes, I think the practice of having a Registered nurse on staff who cannot administer certain basic functions is ethical. Registered nurses who work in assisted living facilities specializes in geriatrics. The typical assisted living facility provides security, housekeeping and food services. While the people in this assignment are not able to live independently or with family, it is the duty of the family to ensure the facility they choose to place their loved ones provides the type of care the person will need. Therefore, it is important for them to visit skilled nursing facilities and find the appropriate one that would accommodate the need of their loved one as opposed to assisted living facility.
Respecting autonomy means respecting the individuals capacity to make decisions consistent with the patient’s own personal desires or life plans. The British Medical Association (2007) states that these are decisions with which others may not agree with. If a patient is requesting or seeking support in carrying out assisted suicide it poses a challenge for the nurse to seek the underlying reasons for the request. Likewise, Carr and Mohr (2008) concurs with the British Medical Association (2007) and also expresses concern with regard to patients having powerful feelings of depression or isolation, pain or suffering or feel a sense of burden on their families. Better symptom management and palliative care, appropriate referrals to counsellors and hospices and increased knowledge about the right of a competent adult to refuse treatment even if the refusal will hasten death may provide satisfactory alternative to assisted suicide. McCormick (2011) states patients have the fundamental right to make decisions about their own medical care, including the decision to withhold or withdraw treatment and right to die. The patient may have had the opportunity to prepare advance care directives which is the advance expression of wishes by a person, at a time when they have the capacity to express their wishes, about certain treatment that might arise at a future time
Health and social care workers as well as care takers can fall into different dilemma related to health and social care decision. One of the dilemmas is ethical dilemma. In this context dilemma must be encountered by health and social care providers and takers.
Karlsson, M. B.-F. (2015). A Qualitative Metasynthesis From Nurses’ Perspective When Dealing With Ethical Dilemmas and Ethical Problems in End-of-Life Care. International Journal for Human Caring, 40-48.
Dementia is a complex disease that’s made up of many parts. There isn’t just one form of dementia, rather there are multiple different forms of dementia, each having their own set of symptoms that can be distinguished from other forms of dementia. Nonetheless, the umbrella term for dementia is an “impairment of thought and behavior that disrupt everyday life” (McCrory, PP, Ch. 17, Slide 18). Symptoms affecting dementia as a whole are the following: memory, thinking, and social abilities (McCrory, PP, Ch. 17, Slide 19). Nonetheless, it’s important to understand that a little memory loss is normal in old age. Therefore, just because you may know someone that has some memory loss doesn’t mean that they suffer from dementia. One of the clear-cut
Long-term care facilities have become home to some individuals due to loss of capacity for independent living which normally caused by some illness that result in them not being able to care for themselves or to perform any daily living activities, such as cooking, eating, bathing, and toileting. Now as an administrator of a long-term care facility, I am responsible to make sure that everything runs smooth; in another word I play most important role in the facility. I am in charge of everything that goes on including patient admissions, facility policies, laws, finances, facility maintenance, residential care and staffing. A number of ethical issues can and will arise in a long-term care facility, such as providing patient care, dealing with
National attention should focus on seniors living along or with someone (family members often are the offenders in abuse towards their senior love one), resulting in a reduction of emotional, and physical, financial and sexual abuse of seniors. At this juncture, the National Center of Elder Abuse Administration of Aging (NCEA) should be involved as well as the Alzheimer’s Association to educate the public on aspects of people who get older and can no longer maintain many parts of their lives, including their health.
This point is particularly relevant for Ian as due to dementia he is classified as ‘vulnerable’ as he lacks the ability to look after himself or protect himself from any form of abuse (Care Act, 2014:c23pt1). Safeguarding is a primary duty of my role as a social worker so it is something I always need to be vigilant about, especially as 12-55% of older people with dementia experience abuse, like financial, physical or emotional, by family members (Cooper et al,
Assisted living facilities are one of the fastest growing industries in the United States. Unfortunately, assisted living facilities have a history of being problematic. Specific cases from the movie Life and Death in Assisted Living Facilities indicates that assisted living facilities are often under staffed, poorly trained, and often admit elderly patients who are not qualified candidates for their facilities (Byker and Thompson, 2013). When taking this in to account, it is important to consider why families may admit their loved ones in to assisted living facilities. Hillier and Barrow (2015), associate problems of caregiving with the responsibility itself, the caregivers personal health, role strains, strained family relationships, ect. With all of this strain on an informal caregiver it seems most beneficial to the caregiver and the elderly individual to consider admittance in to an assisted living facility. Once a basis has been established as to why an elderly person is admitted in to an assisted living facility, further insight shall be established to denote what is considered elder abuse. In this movie, Life and Death in Assisted Living Facilities, several
Utilitarianism and Deontology are two major ethical theories that influence nursing practice. Utilitarian principles of promoting the greatest good for the greatest amount of people parallels the nursing tenet of beneficence. Deontological principles of treating individuals with dignity, and promoting the well-being of the individual parallels the nursing tenet of non-maleficence. Utilitarian and Deontological principles can be utilized to resolve ethical dilemmas that arise in the nursing profession. The purpose of this paper is to define utilitarianism and deontology, discuss the similarities and differences between the two, and to address an ethical dilemma utilizing utilitarian and deontological principles.
Student nurses and nurses spend majority of their time dedicating themselves to patient safety and quality of care. They do patient education, administer medications, perform head to toe assessments, but most importantly, they possess effective communication skills by listening to their patients. This is important because it allows the nurse to understand the concerns of their patients and advocate for their rights. According to the American Nurses Association (ANA), advocacy is when one uses his or her position to protect, support, or speak out for the rights and interests of another.” (Sanford, 2012). The nurse serves as a patient advocate in many situations. Some of these situations include but are not limited to patient rights,
Some safeguarding concerns about Jean might appear in this case and keeping in line with PCF I would need to consider them to protect Jean from serious harm caused by her or others while supporting Jean’s Human Rights. This can make a social worker a lead professional in a discharge process. In this case, it might be unclear whether Jean can make decisions due to her dementia or whether her decisions can be compromised by the influence of others and I would need to assure Jean is protected from possible abuse and neglect.
Vitale, Shaffer, and Acosta-Fenton (2014) make the case for the utilization of the theory of self-transcendence by Pamela Reed. The authors discuss how the theory of self-transcendence can be employed to provide dignity to Alzheimer’s patients and support to families and caregivers. In the case study, Reed’s theory was used to guide the nursing care of an older adult female in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease. Interventions were designed and implemented with Reed’s theory as the foundation (Vitale, Shaffer, & Acosta-Fenton, 2014). The issue then is how effective can the theory of self-transcendence be as Alzheimer’s disease progresses and cognitive ability declines?
The declining cognitive function and unpredictable behaviour of dementia sufferers makes caring for them a difficult and challenging task. As a result, caregivers providing care for dementia sufferers face high physical, emotional and psychological stress [1]. This causes caregivers of dementia sufferers to be at high risk of developing burn-out and other health complications. Thus, it is essential to understand the challenges and burden faced by caregivers of dementia and the resulting effect of caregiving on caregivers’ overall well-being.
The 14 fundamental needs are what guide the nursing process which nursing use to guide their care plan. Virginia Henderson theory separated the nursing care from the medical care because she wanted to focus on the patient as a whole (Blais& Hayes, 2016). The nurse who is caring for a patient with dementia will determine if the patient is capable of doing any of the needs on his or her own, will need the nurse to guide them with these needs or to take full responsibility for the patient to reach all of the 14 fundamental needs. The nurse is coming up with a plan of care for the patient and basing it on what Virginia Henderson believes a nurse’s role for the nurse should be. Which is the nurse will take full responsibility for the patient needs, or offering assistance to the patient while they are no longer able to do independently and working with the patient to promote independence (Ahtisham& Jacoline,