What Nursing Can Mean--New Followers Re-post

Health Care for the Future of the Aging Population-4

A plan for adding alternative therapies to the comfort measures in place for patients in EOL situations will provide greater options in providing care. The complementary treatments such as music therapy, aromatherapy, massage, and healing touch provide significant levels of comfort. The therapies soothe patients in terminal care conditions, stimulating fond memories through scents and music and promoting pain relief via massage and healing touch. A strength is that both aromatherapy and music therapy can be provided for minimal cost expenditures. Providing both of these touch therapies could be accomplished for low to moderate financial requirements. Healing touch can be an option for patients during any bathing, turning, or moving procedures. Aromatherapy and music can be supplied to the patients at regular intervals around the clock. Massage therapy can be incorporated into the physical therapy regime for EOL patients and healing touch can be taught to the nursing care providers at all levels. An additional strength is that none of the treatments have significant risks nor will the therapies interfere with intensive care unit functions, care provision, or equipment, the staff may also benefit from the comfort provided.

Some weaknesses of the plan will include resistance and opposition by staff members to an increase in the workload if the plan does not incorporate the time required by the touch therapies. Aromatherapy and music therapy should not increase work requirements as long as the supplies are available. Another weakness may be in the lack of understanding by patients, families, and staff of the benefits of these treatments. Seeing them as giving up or encouraging death will be some views of the therapies and palliative care that will need to be addressed. Educational programs will be one of the significant costs to implementing the plan.

Opportunities of the strategic plan to implement complementary therapy into palliative care programs of ICU’s include the chance to educate the healthcare providers, public, insurance providers, and the community as a whole. The education should include not only responsible decision making for EOL health conditions but being able to choose the comfort measures desired when a terminal situation arises. Preparedness is a better measure for the increasingly sick population that will be seen in the coming years. Implementing these simple and noninvasive alternative measures into the comfort care of the dying will open the doors to integrating other complementary therapies into more healthcare situations. Here will be a chance to educate administrators and upper management about alternative treatments that often are paid for out of pocket by clients and that patients seeking these therapies will provide revenue to the facility.

From the ANA Smartbrief--Interesting Articles

Robust job growth is forecast for nursing through 2018
Driven in part by the increasing focus on wellness and preventive medicine, experts project that registered nursing will have above-average growth of 22% through 2018. "It's a perennial profession. We're always going to have people with health care needs, and now nurses aren't just caring for sick people, but well people, too," said Katie Brewer, senior policy analyst for the ANA. Las Vegas Review-Journal (8/7)


But will there be enough nurse to fill the gaps that will be left by retiring professionals?


Nurses are key players in distance caregiving, experts say
Researchers said that distance caregivers -- expected to total 14 million by next year -- suffer emotional dilemmas regarding the right time to visit or call their family members and uncertainty about what is happening with them, among other findings. In the study published in the Oncology Nursing Forum, they said nurses have the ability to ease caregivers' emotional distress. "The nurse is the health care team member most likely to have an impact on distance caregiver distress by providing education tools and support," the researchers wrote Nurse.com (8/9)


States' average health insurance premiums range from $136 to $400
The average national health insurance premium is $215 a month, with rates varying from state to state, a Kaiser Family Foundation report found. The highest and lowest state averages were $400 in Massachusetts and Vermont and $136 in Alabama. However, the averages do not reflect the costs adults see when shopping for themselves, since they include prices for children, who are less expensive to cover. Kaiser Health News/Capsules blog (8/9)


Study finds no link between ED crowding, speed of heart attack care
Researchers wrote in the Annals of Emergency Medicine that the level of crowding in one Illinois emergency department didn't have a negative effect on how long it took heart attack victims to get emergency angioplasty. The average time from arrival to surgery was 65 minutes and whether the ED was crowded did not appear to affect the timing. However, arriving weekdays from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. when the angioplasty team was at the hospital did make for a faster average treatment start. Reuters (8/11)


Nurses are on front line of hospice, palliative care innovation
Nurses are adopting innovative ways to provide hospice care services as well as guide the families of patients. For instance, Dawna White has introduced a website aimed at educating the public about hospice, while Bristol Hospice CEO Christie Franklin has developed special programs to better serve veterans as well as patients with dementia and kidney disease. Nurses are vital in providing palliative care, especially for patients who don't want to have hospice care. "Nurses can educate the public, because there is a large percentage of patients who could benefit from palliative care. We can help patients make educated decisions," said nurse Linda Fraser. NurseZone.com (8/17)