J Hosp Palliat Nurs
-
J Hosp Palliat Nurs · Feb 2018
Palliative Nursing Summit: Nurses Leading Change and Transforming Care: The Nurse's Role in Communication and Advance Care Planning.
Advance care planning (ACP) is an essential component of quality palliative care that requires expert communication skills. Nurses are often the health care provider patients and families rely on when exploring their values and preferences and making treatment decisions. Therefore, communication and ACP was one of the 3 areas of practice addressed during the Palliative Nursing Summit. ⋯ Areas addressed included education, clinical care, research, and policy/regulation. Recommended patient outcomes included the honoring of patient/family preferences and the inclusion of ACP discussions during routine care and across the life span. Recommended nursing actions included the following: (1) nursing education (both undergraduates and practicing nurses) and competencies related to communication and ACP be developed and implemented; (2) primary palliative care, including communication and ACP, be included in the practice standards of all nursing specialties; (3) health care systems support conversations about ACP and related documentation; (4) research be conducted related to the implementation of patient/family preferences and related health care utilization; and (5) regulation and reimbursement be crafted to support nursing practice related to ACP and related conversations at the nurses' full level of expertise.
-
J Hosp Palliat Nurs · Feb 2018
Palliative Nursing Summit: Nurses Leading Change and Transforming Care: Our Journey to the Summit.
The Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association, in conjunction with the Hospice and Palliative Credentialing Center and the Hospice and Palliative Nurses Foundation, organized a Palliative Nursing Summit in Washington, DC, on May 12, 2017. The goal of the summit was to convene leaders from various nursing specialty organizations to develop a collaborative nursing agenda for primary palliative nursing. ⋯ Twenty-six nursing specialty organizations participated in the summit. This article describes the basis for the summit, the data and resources that informed the meeting's participants, the outcomes in each of the 3 categories, and next steps.
-
J Hosp Palliat Nurs · Feb 2018
Deactivation of Implantable Cardioverter-Defibrillators in Heart Failure: A Systematic Review.
Implantable cardioverter-defibrillator aids in the prevention of cardiac arrest by delivering an electrical shock in the presence of life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias. Although implantable cardioverter-defibrillators are essential to sustain life in patients with end-stage heart failure, it is important to consider the option for prompt deactivation of implantable cardioverter-defibrillators to prevent inappropriate electrical shocks at the end of life where death is inevitable. ⋯ Studies reported low occurrence of deactivation discussions, lack of knowledge regarding implantable cardioverter-defibrillator deactivation among most patients, and provider's perception of being unqualified to initiate discussion and perform deactivation of implantable cardioverter-defibrillator. A need for additional patient and provider education and periodic discussions between patient and provider on implantable cardioverter-defibrillator deactivation should occur, as well as development of protocol or policy to guide care at the end of life.