Hospitalization Impact and Nursing Care: Wendy Xu Case Study - NSG2ANB

This case study focuses on Wendy Xu, a patient suffering from metastatic brain cancer, and her experience within the healthcare system. The assignment analyzes the impact of her hospitalization, including the challenges of managing her pain, confusion, and her inquiries about euthanasia. It explores the role of nurses in providing comprehensive care, adhering to the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Board (ANMB) standards, and supporting both the patient and her family. The study addresses the importance of discharge planning, communication, and the involvement of interprofessional teams to ensure safe and effective transitions of care, particularly considering the patient's desire for euthanasia. The case highlights the ethical considerations surrounding end-of-life decisions and the need for psychiatric support and counseling to address the patient's mental and emotional well-being. It also emphasizes the need to educate family members about patient care, medication management, and recognizing potential complications, such as gastrointestinal problems or increased aggression. The case study underscores the importance of person-centered care and the application of the Clinical Reasoning Cycle to address Wendy's needs effectively.

Running head: NURSING ASSIGNMENT
NURSING ASSIGNMENT
Case Study A
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

1NURSING ASSIGNMENT
Table of Contents
Question 1........................................................................................................................................2
Part A...........................................................................................................................................2
Part B...........................................................................................................................................2
Question 2........................................................................................................................................3
References........................................................................................................................................5

2NURSING ASSIGNMENT
Question 1
Part A
The patient of this case study, named Wendy, has been suffering from brain cancer since
five years and currently the diagnosed report showed that the cancer had become widely
metastatic. The doctor already warned the family members of the patient that they might find the
personality of the patient may get changed and also the patient may become forgetful because of
the progression of the disease. The GCS value was found 15 after 5 days of admission which
meant that the brain alert was mild. The doctors recommended her to enter to a respite facility so
that she can get proper treatment however neither she nor her family allowed her to go for a
respite facility. Hospital care is not always helpful in curing a patient. In the given case study,
Wendy had recently heard about euthanasia and also was enquiring about the matter that whether
it could be an option for her. Euthanasia can be defined as the steps taken to end someone’s life
so that they can be relived from the sufferings and pain (Aubry, 2016). Different countries have
different laws of euthanasia and it can be differentiated into voluntary euthanasia, non-voluntary
and involuntary euthanasia. The voluntary euthanasia is conducted after taking consent from the
patient, the involuntary euthanasia means when the patients are killed against their consent and
non-voluntary is conducted when the consent of the patient is not available (Testoni et al., 2017).
The patient of the case study was getting frustrated because of the pain and suffering and she
wished it is better for her to go for euthanasia.
Part B
The psychiatrist can help in curing or supporting the patient who is aiming to go for
euthanasia. Euthanasia is not the way of getting cured from a disease. This is the way of killing a

3NURSING ASSIGNMENT
patient is order to get relieved from pain and sufferings. The psychiatrist must make the patient
understand that euthanasia is not the ultimate way of getting rid from a disease, the patient must
act courageously to fight the disease rather than killing herself (Raus & Sterckx, 2015). In the
give case study, the patient must be counseled by a psychiatrist so that rather than thinking about
euthanasia, she could gain much confidence and face the hurdles of her life. The psychiatrist
could talk with the patient about the mental issues that the patient had been suffering from. The
doctor should notice the symptoms of the mental diseases along with the thought, feelings and
the patterns of her behavior. The doctor must identify the root cause for her for thinking about
euthanasia (Hanson, 2016). The cancer of the patient hand become metastatic and had spread to
different parts of the body (Sulmasy et al, 2016). The patient had become aggressive and had left
taking medicines since the last week. The psychiatrist should let her know that the only way to
get rid of the pain and sufferings were receiving proper treatments taking medicines timely.
Question 2
Hospital discharge means at the point when the inpatient hospital care of the patient ends
with the ongoing care getting transferred to the other primary, community or domestic
environments. The discharge of the patient from the hospital is not the end of the care but
transition of the patient’s care of journey. It involves multiple health care giver as well as social
care giver who need to cooperate with each other so that the patient receive an integrated care,
importantly safe care. Discharging a patient without having appropriate arrangements lead the
patient to get exposed to other hospital related risks, creating emotional and physical
dependency, increasing the hospital costs and also at the same time limiting the availability of
beds for the patients (Lavallee et al., 2016). The most important impact of the hospitalization to
the patient at the time of discharging is the maintenance of the safety issues of the patient. After

4NURSING ASSIGNMENT
the discharge of the patient the nurses or the doctors will not be responsible for decreasing the
health condition of the patient. It is the duty of the nurses and the other members of the
interdisciplinary team to make the family members of the patient and also the patient about the
consequences if proper care are not provided to the patient. In the given case study, the nurses
should have informed the family members of the patient about the different ways of providing
care to a cancer patient. The patient of the case study had been suffering from metastatic cancer
since a long time so she might be suffering from severe body pain. The members of the family
should provide mental support to the patient so that the patient might not become aggressive. As
the patient had gone through chemotherapy, chances are there for the patient to vomit sometimes.
So the family members should take a plastic bowl or bucket for the patient to vomit (Page et al.,
2016). The nurses should inform the patients and the family members that the patient should take
the tablets as a whole. According to the NMBA standards of nursing practices, 2016, the nurses
must provide comprehensive care to the patients and in the given case also the nurses should
have provided comprehensive care to the patients (Cashin et al., 2017). The nurses should have
provided the family members the nursing care plan that the nurses were following in the hospital.
The patient was suffering from gastrointestinal problems, so the family members must be aware
about foods that they were providing to the patients. The nurses must make the family members
of the patient understand the need to provide safe and appropriate care approaches. The patient of
the case study was about to go to her daughter’s house after getting discharged from the hospital.
So the registered nurse who was in caring the patient should tell the care plan in details to the
daughter of the patient so that she could take care of the patient.

5NURSING ASSIGNMENT
References
Aubry, R. (2016). End-of-life, euthanasia, and assisted suicide: an update on the situation in
France. Revue neurologique, 172(12), 719-724.
Cashin, A., Buckley, T., Donoghue, J., Heartfield, M., Bryce, J., Cox, D., ... & Dunn, S. V.
(2015). Development of the nurse practitioner standards for practice Australia. Policy,
Politics, & Nursing Practice, 16(1-2), 27-37.
Hanson, S. S. (2016). Pediatric euthanasia and palliative care can work together. American
Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine®, 33(5), 421-424.
Lavallee, D. C., Chenok, K. E., Love, R. M., Petersen, C., Holve, E., Segal, C. D., & Franklin, P.
D. (2016). Incorporating patient-reported outcomes into health care to engage patients
and enhance care. Health Affairs, 35(4), 575-582.
Page, J. S., Lederman, L., Kelly, J., Barry, M. M., & James, T. A. (2016). Teams and teamwork
in cancer care delivery: Shared mental models to improve planning for discharge and
coordination of follow-up care. Journal of oncology practice, 12(11), 1053-1058.
Raus, K., & Sterckx, S. (2015). Euthanasia for mental suffering. In New directions in the ethics
of assisted suicide and euthanasia (pp. 79-96). Springer, Cham.
Sulmasy, D. P., Travaline, J. M., Mitchell, L. A., & Ely, E. W. (2016). Non-faith-based
arguments against physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia. The Linacre
Quarterly, 83(3), 246-257.
Testoni, I., De Cataldo, L., Ronconi, L., & Zamperini, A. (2017). Pet loss and representations of
death, attachment, depression, and euthanasia. Anthrozoös, 30(1), 135-148.