Reference no: EM133397830

Case: Ms. Adams is a 48-year-old patient that has stage 4 ovarian cancer. The physician has met with the patient and explained that medically there is nothing else they can do and she only has a short time left to live. As the physician explains this to the family, the daughter becomes angry and starts yelling at the physician and stating, "you are killing my mother!" The rest of the family start to become hostile and feel as if no one has done anything to save their mother. As you enter the room to give the patient her medications, the daughter begins to make hostile comments to you and threatening to take her mother to another hospital. Although you have been taking care of Ms. Adams for several days now to the best of your ability, the family still thinks that you have not contributed anything to making her better. Then the family calls in the unit manager and begins to complain that you have not answered the call light when she needed something, she has not had a bath, and the physician was just plain rude. The family continues to make negative comments about the hospital for the next two hours. Then, the unit manager approaches you and asks, "Why is this family so upset?"

Questions: Reflect on the critical thinking process and attitudes that we discussed earlier in the course content. As you analyze this situation, what are you going to say to the unit manager? How will you manage your emotions? How does this situation effect your attitude? As you critically think through this situation, what is the overarching problem that would explain this families behavior?