Healthcare Industries - Palliative Care

Running head: PALLIATIVE CARE
Palliative care
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PALLIATIVE CARE 2
Introduction
Nurses always lead healthcare industries by providing comfort, compassion and skilled care to
the patients and families that seek their services. However, when it comes to end-of-life care
there are many ethical that arises. In this assignment, it will provide a reflective essay based on
John’s case study. The essay will outline the facilitation of collaborative ethical decision making
that include interdisciplinary team, the cultural aspect of palliative care and personal beliefs.
Facilitation of collaborative ethical decision making that incorporates the interdisciplinary
team
One of the important aspect in end-of-life care is collaborative ethical decision making.
According to Brooks et al, (2017), the role of collaborative ethical decision making is to
facilitate patient’s independence during the caring period. Ethical decision making involves
analyzing and making a move among other alternatives. However, the choice should be in line
with ethical principles. During the end of life care, patients make decisions that influence the
outcome of the care. Consequently, Pfaff, & Markaki, (2017) said that there are times when the
patient’s choice are against the nurse’s values and morals. In such circumstances, the situation
become distressful to the nurses. One nurse may not make a concrete decision and therefore the
need to collaborate with the interdisciplinary team to ensure that the rights of the patient are
taken into consideration. Considering the case study provided, John have decided that he no
longer need treatment and now want to go home. One of the principles that regulate end of life
care is respect to autonomy. With interdisciplinary team, nurses should allow John to continue
with treatment at home. Respect to autonomy standard illustrate that patients should have the
right to decide on the course of that he or she wants. Despite the decisions being difficult,
collaborating with interdisciplinary team can assist in finding the best way to ensure that John

PALLIATIVE CARE 3
get treatment at home. John has the right to make a decision given the short lifetime he has to
live. Collaborative ethical decision making can work best if all nurses in the facility can
contribute positively to assist John in protecting his rights. Nurses can achieve collaborative
ethical decision in this scenario by scheduling themselves in a way to provide John spiritual
support while he will be at home. Secondly, competent nurses can recommend the appropriate
medical supplies that John require. By respecting John’s rights and contributing positively
towards his care, Rochmawati et al, (2018) argued that the nurses would have achieved
collaborative ethical decision making thus ensuring John’s autonomy.
Cultural aspects of palliative care and in particular, the practices, beliefs and traditions
John may wish to uphold.
It is true that culture plays a crucial role during palliative care. In most cases, Haraldsdottir et al,
(2018) stated that decision making is challenging since both patient and the nurse providing
services have different beliefs. According to Prelock et al, (2017), these beliefs are heavily
backed by religious and cultural upbringing. For example, there are many cultures that are
against removing an individual from a life support machine despite showing no signs of
recovering. For example, Le François, & Tapp, (2018) stated that Christians view the action as
one of the ways of killing the individual. They value the effort of a physician in supporting an
individual even when one is dying. Christians believe that life is from God and He is the one
who can take it away regardless of the illness. Apart from that, they believe that the physicians
provide health only through God’s intervention. However, there are many cases where the nurse
and the patient may be coming from different societies that have different stand about life. In
such a situation decision making process becomes complex. For instance, Cain et al, (2018)