Mary is in the ICU with heart failure, congestive heart failure, and renal failure
She has no family but does have a living will that states "do not resuscitate," so her physician wrote "DNR, palliative care only" orders in her chart this morning. The nurses are giving her palliative care, but there is some confusion on what that means between the nursing staff.
a. What is palliative care and what is included in it?
b. If a client has DNR orders, does that mean to stop everything? Why or why not?
Students' answers should include the following:
a. Palliative care includes items in Box 10-1 as well as making the client and the family as comfortable as possible throughout the dying process.
Explaining every step of the way and making the family and the client part of the whole process makes coping a lot easier.
b. Discussion here includes what palliative care is and what it means to the nurse. Also, what does DNR orders mean to the nurse?
Discussion here also can include personal issues and feelings each student has about death and palliative care and the moral issues of not allowing that to affect his or her care of clients dying.
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