List two end-of-life decisions that a support worker might follow in the care pl

Question

List two end-of-life decisions that a support worker might follow in the care plan for a person accessing services.

How can a support worker ensure that considerations for dignity of risk are upheld?

Describe the legal and ethical considerations for duty of care when caring for a person at end-of-life.

Explain what confidentiality and disclosure are and the related legal and ethical requirements when working in palliative care.

Give two examples of how you can protect the individual’s privacy when collecting personal information.

Explanation / Answer

1) The end of life care services are provided to people who are nearly on their death beds and wishes for a peaceful death with due respect and love towards their wish. It is also very important to take care of their physical, physiological, emotional needs of the cleint in a holistic manner. The delivery of care shall be planned in a such a way that it should not further deteriorates the patient's condition leading to distress.

There are many things the support worker shall remember while giving care to a patient with end of life care like a plan of care which includes holistic approach. The two decisions are;

- Pain management: It is very crucial because the pain is the worst factor during such illness as it disturbs the patients peace fo mind. Pain reduction with the help of pain killers like some sedatives, opioids, to control the pain to the maximum. This can also induce sleep as the pain killers can act on pain as well as sleep.

- Involving family members or loved ones in the care of patient can result in peaceful days of the patient at the end of life. Family members can bring in happiness of the patient by creating a lovable environment to stay which can create peace.

2) Dignity of risk means respecting each individual’s own autonomy and self-determination that is person's dignity in making choices and decide accordingly wihout anyone's interruption . The concept means that all adults have the right to make their own decisions about their health and care.

- The patients are assessed with their abilities to perform activities within their limitations.

- The patients consent should be always taken into consideration without fail because that helps to decide what is needed for them or things which are not required for them.

- External activities can be initiated if the patient is willing to perform.

- Care plans can be decided by discussing with the patient and including their preferences to perform activities during the day.

- Encouraging the patients to perform activities which they want to perform and include family during such sessions can make them happy and satisfied.

3) Legal & ethical considerations

Respect for life and care in dying: It is important to respect life which is the primary goal of medical care and preservation of life till their last breath and to give them dignity and peaceful hospitalization or death. And it is also vital the care plan should provide comfort and dignity to the dying person, and to support others in doing so.

The right to know and to choose: All persons receiving healthcare have a right to be informed about their condition and their treatment options. It is very vital to take informed written consent for any activites because the individual They have a right to receive or refuse life-prolonging treatment. Caregivers have an ethical and legal obligation to acknowledge and honour these stated choices and preferences in accordance with the rules and regulations of the end of life care services or the guidelines laid down by the organisation.

Appropriate withholding and withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment : The end-of-life care should be intended to provide the best possible treatment for an individual at that time by involving patient and their families in execution or withdrawing care. It helps the patient to have more comfortable journey towards the death. It focusses on primarily accommodate comfort and dignity, then withholding or withdrawal of life-sustaining medical interventions may be permissible in the best interests of the dying patient.

A collaborative approach to care: Families and healthcare professionals shall work in collaboration to deliver care with dignity and maintains complete documentation of each activity.

Transparency and accountability: The support workers and the team should be fostering honest inter-personal relationships with the patient and their family. The care should be transparent in nature by maintaining confidentiality in care. There should be efforts taken to maintain privacy during care.

Non-discriminatory care: Treatment decisions at the end of life should be non-discriminatory and should be based on the clinical requirements of the patient, medical condition, their values,beliefs and wishes.

Rights and obligations of healthcare professionals: Patients have a right to receive care, and health professionals have a responsibility to practice, in accordance with community and professional norms and legal standards.

Continuous improvement : Health professionals have an obligation to strive for ongoing improvement in standards of end-of-life care. This situation requires education and support for those health professionals managing dying patients and their families.

4) Maintaining confidentiality and privacy is basic priniciples in delivering care to patients in any healthcare settings. Confidentiality refers to the state of keeping certain things or documents or statements private or in secret because of the importance of one's own privacy. Disclosure of facts in a healthcare settings is the sharing of information of the patient's details within the healthcare team members who are taking care of the patient.

Legal and ethical requirements : Patient autonomy is the ability to make decisions for oneself on the basis of deliberation. The basis for this is the established right of privacy and the right to refuse treatment.

Informed consent : The autonomous person is well informed about the risks and benefits of each technique or treatment which can help the patients and their families to make an unbiased, informed decision, without being pressured in decision-making. This also helps to decide upon which treatment can be accepted or refused in the plan of care.

Confidentiality: Maintaining cofidentiality of the patients information and data can build up trust and good inter personal relationship between the patients and healthcare providers.

Beneficence and non-maleficence: The principles of beneficence means providing benefit to the patient, and non-maleficence (‘first do no harm’) are often considered together to deliver effcetive care.

Living Wills: Some people make up a draft which will state that the person who can make decisions about their treament or discontinue or stop treament in case the patients go into a coma or death bed.

Appropriate withholding and withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment : The end-of-life care should be intended to provide the best possible treatment for an individual at that time by involving patient and their families in execution or withdrawing care.

Justice: Justice is described as fairness and delivering care and treating people equally in relation to their needs, rights, ability to benefit, or autonomous desire.

5) The patients personal information is very important because maintaining confidentiality of information can build transparent relationship. The two examples are:

- During the data collection of personal information ,the patient can be placed in a separate room away from the other patients

- The details can be taken into patients unique Identification number so that others cannot view the datas without proper access to it

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