‘Author’s name’
‘Institution’
9.1 What if You are struggling with letting Scotty pass? You want the physician to do whatever is possible to help Scotty survive. How can you look past this and accept Scotty’s wishes?
As a healthcare practitioner, we will encounter a critical event in the patient’s lives. As part of the healthcare team, we all want our patient to recover and prolong their lives. There will be times that our patient’s will is different from what we want for him. During this situation, as a professional I should know how to disregard my emotion towards my patient’s situation in order to fully accept and respect his decision for his treatment.
9.2 What if The physician you are dealing with gives you an order to give 1mg of morphine every 15 minutes for pain? While assessing your patient, you count Scotty’s respirations; the count is only 5. Morphine should be held for respirations less than 12. The physician states to give the morphine, regardless of the respirations. What should you do to protect yourself and the patient?
I will immediately hold the medication to protect me for negligence in my practice, since as a healthcare practitioner we are aware that if we continuously give the prescribed medication patient will go into further respiratory depression and could even lead to death. But if the physician insists to continuously give the medication I will seek support from my superior or even the ethic committee of the hospital, if available.
9.3 What if Scotty’s family decides, at the last minute, to bring Scotty back, against his wishes? What can you do to help Scotty?
I will first allow the family to express their feelings towards the situation and also respect their treatment decision towards the patient. But as a healthcare practitioner, our ultimate responsibility is to our patients so I will fully and patiently explain to the family the will signed by the patient. Through this process, I was able to pay respect to the patient and at the same time to his family.
