BONUS: Earn 3 Nursing Contact Hours!
End-of-life healthcare issues are more complex than ever. Your patients are more aware of their options and ability to exercise their rights, and you have the added stress of increased scrutiny from regulators like The Joint Commission.
To provide the best level of care in end-of-life situations, turn to Evidence-Based Advance Directives: A Study Guide for Nurses.
This practical and necessary training tool provides a concise overview of the legal, ethical, and cultural aspects of advance directives that affect nursing.
Using case studies and role play activities, Evidence-Based Advance Directives will help nurses become more comfortable discussing advance directives with patients. We examine the cultural elements that influence advance directives to help nurses learn how to broach this difficult subject, mindful of the cultural influences and without personal bias.
You're the glue that binds the patient's request to the law
Evidence-Based Advance Directives provides basic information about advance directives and prepares nurses to advocate for patients in the event their advance directives are not being followed by hospital personnel or the patients' families.
The flexible and quick training option
With this versatile guide, you have the option to lead informative educational sessions in a classroom setting, or to distribute it to your staff nurses for use as a self-study tool. Either way, the comprehensive exam at the end of the study guide will allow you to assess the effectiveness of the training and the knowledge gained by the learner. Use Evidence-Based Advance Directives to quickly train your nurses on advance directives and the role they play in patient decisions.
Topics Covered
- Advance directives and the law
- State law mandates advance directives
- The Advance Directives Improvement and Education Act of 2005
- Nurses' roles in promoting advance directives
- Nurses' knowledge of advance directives
- Patients' lack of knowledge about end-of-life options
- What is an advance directive?
- Advance directive documents
- What should patients address in their advance directive?
- Special considerations for patients and healthcare providers
- Limitations on liability
- Advance directive implications with the elderly and pediatrics
- Legal foundation for end-of-life decisions
- The state's interest in protecting patients
- Making the decision to withhold or withdraw treatment
- The ethical and moral implications of end-of-life decisions
- Nurse as patient advocate
- Conflict in the care of the terminally ill patient
- Ethnic and cultural beliefs that influence advance directives
- Cultural views regarding death
- Treatment preferences and advance directives
- Education and training
- Advance directives curriculum
- Respect nurses' individual beliefs concerning end-of-life decisions
- Hospital compliance with advance directive mandates and standards
- Joint Commission regulations
- Written policies and procedures
Intended Audience
Nurse Managers, VPs of Nursing, Chief Nursing Officers, Directors of Nursing, Nursing Home Administrators, Directors of Training, Staff Educators
Learning Objectives
Upon completion of this activity, participants will be able to:
- Define the hospitals' legal requirements under the Patient Self-Determination Act
- Discuss the Advance Directives Improvement and Education Act of 2005
- Define nurses' knowledge of advance directives
- Discuss the nurses' patient advocacy role regarding advance directives
- Distinguish between the living will and the durable power of attorney for healthcare
- Define the "clear and convincing" language requirement
- Identify when a do-not-resuscitate order may be medically and ethically appropriate
- Identify when a patient may revoke an advance directive
- Define special considerations regarding advance directives that must be addressed with some elderly patients
- Verbalize the legal basis upon which advance directives are founded
- List the state's interest in protecting patients
- Enumerate the three-part test of the Conroy Court to determine if life-sustaining treatment may be withheld or withdrawn
- Identify factors that may encourage healthcare providers to deviate from an advance directive when making healthcare decisions for a medically incapacitated patient
- Understand the nurses' role in ensuring the patient's wishes outlined in an advance directive are respected
- Define sources of conflict concerning end-of-life decisions between the patient's family and the clinician
- Analyze the role of advance directives in reducing healthcare expenditures
- Discuss the European American values regarding healthcare
- Define the role of Hispanic American families in making healthcare decisions for the medically incapacitated patient
- Analyze why African Americans may distrust the U.S. health system
- Identify the elements of a well developed advance directive curriculum
- Question cultural leaders to promote nurses' cultural competency regarding end-of-life decisions
- Discuss the standards of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations regarding advance directives
- Identify the necessary contents of hospital policies and procedures to meet legal mandates and accreditation standards for advance directives
About the Author
Dinah Brothers, RN, JD, is a staff attorney for the Texas State Board of Medical Examiners in Austin. Ms. Brothers litigates cases against physicians for failure to practice medicine within the appropriate standard of care, for sexually inappropriate behavior with patients, and for intemperate drug and alcohol use. Prior to becoming an attorney, she worked as a nurse for ten years.
Disclosure statement: The author has declared that she has no commercial/financial vested interest in this activity.
Continuing Education
HCPro is accredited as a provider of continuing nursing education by the American Nurses Credentialing Center Commission on Accreditation.
This educational activity for 3 nursing contact hours is provided by HCPro, Inc.
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