Which of the following is the primary factor in how a hospice nurse ma

Which of the following is the primary factor in how a hospice nurse makes decisions while giving care in the client’s home, surrounded by the client’s family?

a. To allow the patient a comfortable, pain-free death
b. To assure the caregiver and the whole family that they are not hastening the client’s death by anything they do to keep the client comfortable
c. To encourage the family to grieve and confront the reality of the client being terminal
d. To prevent a decline in the caregiver’s health

made considering the health of the caregivers. Encouragement of the family to grieve and confront the reality of the client being terminal would not be a primary factor in how the nurse makes decisions.

ESSAYBID ANSWER

ANS: D
Although the nurse tries to do everything possible for the client, the caregiver, and the whole family, the nurse must prevent a decline in the caregiver’s health. Although the dying patient is the focus of all skilled nursing care, the experienced home care nurse knows that a careful assessment of the caregiver’s mental and physical health is important. The spouse, lover, children, friends, and neighbors who have made the commitment to stay until the end need the nurse’s time and attention as much as, if not more than, the patient. Although the patient’s wishes are important, all decisions regarding care are