Helpful websites for your assignment

Hello everyone,

I located some websites that may assist you in completing your concept map assignment.  I know the first concept map you create can be overwhelming, but hopefully you will find inspiration and assistance in one of the suggested sites.

http://www.text2mindmap.com/

http://eduwithtechn.wordpress.com/2007/04/14/some-free-concept-mapping-programs/

Let me know if you are still having difficulties and I will try to help you through it.  As before, if you have other sites that may be useful to the rest of the class, please do not hesitate to post them as a comment. 

Interactive find for you

Hello all my little pretties (sorry, but The Wizard of Oz was recently on...love that movie).  I found an interactive quiz on the AACN website that I took and thought would be of interest to all of you as well.  I covers the main areas of end of life care, so it is a great learning tool in that it will allow you to perhaps discover areas in which you could focus or research further.  On the page there are also other links, some of which I checked out but I did not review all of them.  The quiz is on the portion of the page entitled "Self Assessment: Palliative and End-of-Life Care" and it can be located at:

http://www.aacn.org/wd/palliative/content/palandeolinfo.pcms?menu=practice&lastmenu

If you are like me at all, taking the quiz is something that is fun in the sense that you can show yourself how much you know, or like I said, find an area to further research in order to learn more. 

Enjoy!!

Article specifically outlining education of RNs on EOL care

Good morning everyone-  I have reviewed this article and while it is very lengthy, part 6 relates specifically to the lack of content in nursing education addressing end of life care.  The remainder of the article discusses history of EOL care and common signs/symptoms and interventions to address them. 

http://www.rnjournal.com/journal_of_nursing/end-of-life-care.htm

My question to you all is whether or not you believe EOL care is adequately covered in nursing education?  Did your feelings change as a result of reading this article?  What suggestions would you make with respect to the amount of EOL content?

Recent experience

Hello all, no bells, whistles or sites for you to visit today.  I would like to share an experience I recently had while working in the ER of a small (critical access) hospital.  A little background first: the hospital is closely affiliated with a rural health center that has 4 doctors.  This hospital is in a small town where pretty much everyone knows everyone else and the doctors have seen the same patients or their families forever.  Please keep this in mind while reading on.

One of the employees of the hospital has been caring for a parent at home for some time.  The parent is very elderly and has recently suffered at least 2-3 strokes and just began having seizures over the past couple days.  Previously, the parent was able to get out of bed with assistance and would interact with the employee; however, in the past week that has all changed.  The parent now is unable to get out of bed at all and is basically non-verbal except for saying help and the employee's name.  Therefore, the employee wished to have a hospice referral/consult because they have become exhausted caring for the parent.  Now, hospice will not accept or consider a patient without a physician referral/order so the employee called the rural health center, where the parent had previously been seen (albeit over several months ago).  The doctor who was familiar with the parent from prior contacts was not willing to order the hospice consult, nor was the doctor willing to go out to the house in order to see the patient (again keep in mind that we are talking about a small community and the physician was already familiar with the parent). 

My first question to you all is what are your feelings about this?  Next, consider what constraints are on both the hospice company and the physician that result in their apparent unwillingness to help out this family.  With all the healthcare rules and regulations combined with our letigious society, do you believe the care provided to patients has benefitted or suffered as a result?  When confronted with a situation like the one I have described, what would you suggest?  Do you agree or disagree with the physician's decision in this situation?  Does the situation as described seem to be the provision of ideal end of life care?  Remember, I am just asking for your opinions.