Advanced Nursing Research, Essay Example

The concept of providing artificial nutrition and hydration (ANH) requires knowledge of administration and end-of-life care issues from a nursing perspective. There is a high degree of risk involved in administering ANH, and therefore, families must be apprised of the changes that may be observed in patients, as well as how ANH impacts their lives (Daly, 2000). There are conflicting concerns regarding ANH and when it should be considered as a viable option for patients, and nurses play a valuable role in this process. There are many issues to consider in the development of an effective approach to ANH from a nursing perspective, and requires an exploration of how patients and their families are impacted by ANH concerns, and how these decisions are made (Daly, 2000). The challenges of ANH are complex and ethically oriented, and therefore require all involved parties to take the steps that are necessary through active discussion to facilitate the appropriate decision-making alternatives (Daly, 2000). Nurses play a particularly relevant role in the administration of ANH, and must address the primary ethical and moral concerns in regards to this process in order to protect patients from unnecessary risk or harm. For nurses working in end-of-life care or palliative care settings, ANH is a common likelihood, and this reflects a series of strategic challenges that nurses must work through in order to provide the best possible care and treatment for end-of-life patients, regardless of the circumstances. There are a number of relevant factors to consider that enable nurses to accommodate the needs of ANH for different patients, and to recognize the need for this alternative as the circumstances permit in these specialized settings.

In response to the needs of ANH for some end-of-life care patients, it is necessary to identify the primary ethical issues that are most relevant in making decisions regarding this important treatment alternative. The principle of utilitarianism is relevant to this discussion, because it offers an opportunity to explore the greater good of ANH and how it ultimately impacts patients over the long term (Goodhall, 1997). With this theory in mind, ANH is not the most optimal choice, as noted in the following: “The utilitarian view would question the morality of artificially maintaining severely physically and mentally impaired elderly patients into advanced age because of the associated drain on limited resources” (Goodhall, 1997, p. 220). These findings suggest that ANH is not the most acceptable choice for end-of-life care patients, regardless of their age, because it does not truly consider the greater good of the population, and rather, focuses on a single individual (Goodhall, 1997). Therefore, from this theoretical perspective, ANH is not the best option to consider. As a result, ANH brings about a series of ethical and moral questions that must be addressed from the patient, family, and nursing perspectives. Therefore, this theory is relevant because it introduces a number of questions that are important in conveying the ethical challenges of end-of-life care, and how it requires all involved parties to make a variety of serious decisions of an ethical nature. This theory requires nurses and others to determine how ANH would impact a patient, and whether or not it will contribute to his or her well being, or if it would lead to other difficult and even unexpected outcomes.

References

Daly, B.J. (2000). Special challenges of withholding artificial nutrition and hydration. Journal of Gerontological Nursing, 26(9): 25-31.

Goodhall, L. (1997). Tube feeding dilemmas: can artificial nutrition and hydration be legally or ethically withheld or withdrawn? Journal of Advanced Nursing, 25: 217-222.