Reference no: EM133362329

Question

Many critical care nurses take care of patients at their end. New nurses often are unsure of how to proceed in this delicate situation, as many ethical issues come into play. This discussion will examine ethical dilemmas related to end-of-life care and how this affects research.

An experienced nurse, Kathy, is giving an end-of-shift patient report to Jenelle, a new nurse on the unit. Kathy tells Jenelle that Mrs. Fletcher's electroencephalogram (EEG) is flat, indicating brain death. Mrs. Fletcher's daughter does not want to decide to withdraw full code alone. They are waiting for Mrs. Fletcher's son to arrive from Australia so the two children can make end-of-life decisions for their mother together. Kathy tells Jenelle that in the meantime, if Mrs. Fletcher codes, Jenelle would need to perform full resuscitation. Jenelle is struggling with this, and Kathy suggests that Jenelle look up some articles on ethics and end-of-life care.

- In the text, the authors discuss the importance of protecting vulnerable groups. How could Mrs. Fletcher (and her family) be considered a vulnerable group if this end-of-life situation was researched?

- Suppose Mrs. Fletcher's children agreed to be part of and approved their mother's participation in a research study that examined end-of-life perceptions of patients and family members. What would some nursing concerns be?

- Conduct a literature search on areas of research related to end-of-life treatments. What have been some of the ethical issues that have been associated with such research studies?