End of life is a concept that is often ignored despite the fact that everyone will die some day. It is because death is a part of life that people are familiar with palliative care given at the end of life. Yet, the end of life concept is generally thought to be something equated with human life. At least, that is what people tend to think of when the phrase “end of life” is uttered. Today, palliative care is offered when someone is dying, and when the end is predictable. Some people die a slow death from issues like cancer or heart disease, but others die abruptly from an accident or heart attack when life ends. In the latter case, the end of life is only known in retrospect. Prognostication and Role of Hospice Essay
How is the end of life defined? Death is very difficult to define. Yet, doctors have determined some criteria to at least allow someone into a hospice program. Still, the end of life can be looked at philosophically, and examined in regard to a number of different domains. Plants, insects, cellular structures and human beings each have a beginning and an end time. While human beings perhaps are conscious beings, and not like plants at all, both plants and humans experience the same cycle. They are born, they live, and then they die. Understanding the cycle of life is the key to understanding the end of life concept. In measuring a life in years, the end of life becomes known, even though the amount of time left at the end of one’s life is not set in stone. Prognostication and Role of Hospice Essay
For everyone, death is inevitable, and each loss is personally felt by those close to the one who has died. It is very important that nurses, the medical staff and or love ones understand the end of life process of the being in order to care for them. The dying person should be allowed to have a peaceful, pain free, and dignified death. Prognostication and Role of Hospice Essay
Review of literature
The end of life process is an “important phase of life,” and it is also one in which patients are entitled to the expectation of quality nursing care, as this will ensure that they have a death with dignity (Fawcett and Jacobs, 2009, p. 406). Prior to the landmark work of Kubler-Ross, death was largely a taboo subject that was not addressed (Ireland, 2010). Kubler-Ross outlined five stages, which describe the psychological, emotional journey that leads terminal patients from initial denial to solace of acceptance (Ireland, 2010). Kubler-Ross maintains, and nursing theory supports this position, that caregivers should support patients as they transition through the five stages of “denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance” (Ireland, 2010, p. 238). Addressing the psychological, emotional and spiritual needs of terminal patients is a task that is often complicated the development of cognitive disorders, such as delirium and dementia (Janecki and Janecki, 2010). Nevertheless, even in such cases, there are steps that practitioners can take to address these issues. Prognostication and Role of Hospice Essay
As this indicates, the end of life process not only involves the physical care of the terminally ill patient, ensuring that the patient is pain-free and comfortable, but it also addresses the emotional, psychological and spiritual needs of the patients and their families. This concept is multi-disciplinary in its application as the issue of mortality is universal and applicable to all aspects of nursing Prognostication and Role of Hospice Essay
When someone is born, they experience growth at a certain accepted rate. Although some human beings are born with diseases that truncate or speed up life processes, most human beings can count on going through certain stages as they grow. Cellular life also goes through a formation and growth process, and then it dies. In multicellular organisms, the end result of aging is that the life span is limited (“Cellular Aging,” 2011). As cells age, they are no longer able to continue to divide (“Cellular Aging,” 2011). That said, they still remain metabolically active (“Cellular Aging,” 2011). At some point, the death of the cell occurs (“Cellular Aging,” 2011). This is similar to a human being and his or her aging process towards the end of life. The fact that death occurs at an unpredictable moment seems to be a part and parcel of the end of life concept no matter which organisms are being discussed. Insects, animals, human beings and so forth each age at a certain rate and each individual organism is different. Prognostication and Role of Hospice Essay
The end of life is the time preceding the death of the being, but the death is difficult to predict unless it is scheduled such as in the case of an execution. Someone being put to death knows when their last meal will be, but few people have such foresight.
Order this paper