Interview of a Hospice Nurse

 

The death of someone who died peacefully is an experience that leaves an enduring mark on the hospice nurse. In this scenario, the patient was conscious, alert, and oriented during the admission to the hospice. The admission assessment results indicated that the patient was highly tolerant of terminal restlessness with no apparent organ system co-morbidity. The patient expressed the need to die as she was afraid of experiencing pain with agitation (Tyler, 2019). As the hospice nurse, I collaborated with other interdisciplinary healthcare unit colleagues to ensure ClickComplete for Palliative Rounds was correctly filled and prescribed patient-centered actions. The actions included reviewing the drug list via ClickComplete for Palliative Rounds, focusing on drug dose adjustments, recognizing the side effects of controlled substances to avoid adverse events, like overdose, and discussing medication preferences with the patient. Because of undergoing personalized prescription debate and creating a medication plan as referenced above, the patient remained highly satisfied with the ability to die peacefully after two days without medication on her death day (Tyler, 2019).

The death of someone who did not die peacefully was a painful experience for both the patient and myself. In this case, the patient was also admitted to the hospice. However, the patient expressed her need to return home (building of her childhood) after bedridden in her residence for one year. During the intitial assessment via telephone, the nurse expert expressed her need for the patient to remain calm because her husband has archeological insights regarding the valley and will enhance cultural experiences while living in the valley. Also, the nurse expert intentionally introduces other patients with equivalent values. Unfortunately, I was unaware of the patients' complex palliative concerns. To offer quality daylight with excursions, I actively liaised with the grain mill and vineyard associations, prepared days of demonstrations, and formed a groups of visiting executives and researchers. The patient ultimately passed away because excitement would cause her to consistently experience restlessness (which lasts up to four hours), contractures, and express slogans concerning her terminal agony (Tyler, 2019). As a hospice nurse, I felt guilty because I contributed to the patient's daily excitement, causing her pain and restlessness.

In addition, although patients received the desired medication and treatment, the situation did not offer an option to lessen the patient's suffering. On her last breathes, the patient appeared to be clammy, agitated, tired, and stressed (Tyler, 2019). She choked while glancing up at the ceiling, displaying scapular movement, and departed quietly while the position was stressful, with proper diaphoretic restlessness ("Computer assessment: Can you offer me one reason why I should not die," discussed in the ward), and the atmosphere was clamorous (especially with music aggregates) (Tyler, 2019). As a hospice nurse, I felt overwhelmed by the whole situation because I stood proud and perplexed at the same time.

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A supportive family accompanies the hospice patient during the terminal agony process up to their death. The family demonstrates engagement and enthusiasm when they visit the patient because they demonstrate love and care and are willing to contribute to the quality of their family members' remaining time. For example, when I admitted a patient who died peacefully, the family was supportive because they stayed awake for several days and nights with their father. The family members demonstrated enthusiasm in holding their father's hands, encouraging and praising him whenever he demonstrated signs of progress and that they wanted to be with him till the very last breathes. The family demonstrated high energetic love and compassion for their terminally ill patient.

Contrarily, the family of a patient who did not die peacefully demonstrated signs of conflict and rancor. The family members' siblings differed on the patient care route once they were placed on hospice care. There was a time I had to call the physician because the family members were bickering endlessly, and their voices were all over. The physician diagnosed the patient with end-stage cancer affecting one organ systems with a three months' prognosis. This was followed by a conflict as the siblings differed regarding the patient's treatment route. One of the family members pushed to terminate all curative care processes and initiate quality care significantly faster, while the other advocated shifting the control of medication from oral (which was increasingly causing her distress and an


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