Relevance of Palliative Care Training in Nursing Practice Literature review

Relevance of Palliative Care Training in Nursing Practice - Literature review Example Palliative care has generally been linked with end-of-life care of cancer patients, but considering its effectiveness in reducing the suffering of patients and their family the concept has now been extended to include non-cancer population as well. "Dying patients need to be assured that their destiny lies in the hands of well trained, multi-disciplinary, professional team because often the death is no longer capable of caring for themselves and their rights." (Gronemeyer, et al 2005, p.1). Hence, effective implementation of palliative care will be possible only through adequate training and grooming of health care providers. Since nurses interact most with patients and act as intermediaries between other health care providers and patients and their family members it is imperative that addressing the training needs of nurses is crucial for the success of palliative care program. As such, an attempt has been made to analyze select articles related to experimental models of palliative care and training strategies relevant to nursing practice. University of Wollongong Library's electronic resources was searched for locating relevant articles. Though Google scholar has larger volumes of articles, considering the fact that Proquest database covers specific nursing-related peer-reviewed journal articles, the search was limited to Proquest database only. The basic search question used was 'Palliative care', which retrieved 7982 articles from Proquest. A further search of the database for 'medical sciences-Nursing and allied health sources' shortlisted number of articles to 130. When the results were limited to full-text documents of scholarly journals 23 articles have been retrieved. Five articles with different area of coverage, such as (1) Nurses' perceptions around providing palliative care for long-term care residents with dementia; (2) Providing pediatric palliative care through a pediatric supportive care team; (3) Using high-fidelity simulation to educate nursing students about end-of-life care; (4) Enhancing meaning i n palliative care practice: A meaning-centred intervention to promote job satisfaction; and (5) Spiritual development of nursing students: Developing competence to provide spiritual care to patients at the end of life. Since large volumes of research articles (303,000) have been retrieved from Google Scholar using the catchphrase 'Palliative care' and only 5 articles have to be selected for the literature review it has been decided to search Proquest database and cover palliative care experiences in two challenging areas, such as pediatrics and geriatrics (dementia), and three articles covering innovative training approaches; Nurses' perceptions around providing palliative care for long-term care residents with dementia. The study conducted by Kaasalainen et al (2007) explores nurses' perceptions around providing palliative care for long-term care (LTC) residents with dementia, using a qualitative descriptive design. The inspiration for this study was the unprecedented increase in a ged care population with cognitive impairment and identification of 'many barriers to optimal palliative care in LTC homes' in Canada. Dementia is a progressively degenerating physical condition leading to gradual loss of cognitive abilities.

Texts in Conversations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Texts in Conversations - Essay Example Finally, third wave feminism continues through the contemporary cultural landscape. In addition to large-scale political change, each of these movements is reflected in the artistic and cultural production of feminist writers of the time. This essay critically reviews prominent texts from each of the feminist waves – Virginia Woolf’s ‘Shakespeare’s Sister’, Simone de Beauvoir’s ‘the Second Sex,’ and Rebecca Walker’s ‘Becoming the Third Wave.’ Virginia Woolf was one of the most prominent writers within the first wave spectrum of feminist thought. Today her novels and essays remain widely read for both their literary qualities, as well as their prescient perspective on women’s equality. In terms of her stance on women’s equality, her text ‘Shakespeare’s Sister’ represents one of her most powerful statements. Woolf begins this text with the provocative statement, â€Å"It would h ave been impossible, completely and entirely, for any woman to have written the plays of Shakespeare in the age of Shakespeare† (Woolf). In addition to holding significant rhetorical quality, this statement is an indictment of both 17th century Europe, as well as cultural climate of Woolf’s time that severely restricts the rights of women. While Woolf’s text expresses many of the concerns that will later be echoed in second and third wave feminist literature, it’s clear that Woolf’s formulations distinctly constitute proto-feminist concerns. As Woolf’s text unravels it’s clear that it focuses upon the position of a woman in 17th century England. She seminally writes that any, â€Å"woman born with a great gift in the sixteenth century would certainly have gone crazed, shot herself, or ended her days in some lonely cottage outside the village, half witch, half wizard, feared and mocked† (Woolf). Even as Woolf is referring to the condition of the woman in 17th century Europe, it’s clear that her statements are reflective of her own social challenges. The cultural climate of Woolf’s time remain highly centered on the male as the breadwinner and this carried over into the process of education and social responsibility. In these regards, Woolf is articulating essential aspects of the woman’s experience in her world; namely the nature of patriarchal society as restricting the woman’s full potential and the abhorrent recognition of this reality. While such concerns are more emblematic of first wave feminism, they are reflective of the central of all feminist waves, and are reflected in both de Beauvoir and Walker’s texts. Simone de Beauvoir’s ‘the Second Sex’ is recognized as a seminal text in terms of the second wave feminist movement. While Woolf’s work examined broader feminist and human rights concern, de Beauvoir’s text is more rooted in th e cultural climate of her day. It’s also clear that while Woolf’s text is more concerned with the oppressive social mechanisms that restrict women’s rights, de Beauvoir is further pointed as she directly identifies men as the oppressive party. Consider de Beauvoir who writes, â€Å"The whole of feminine history has been man-made. Just as in America there is no Negro problem, but rather a white problem; just as anti-Semitism is not a Jewish problem, it is our problem; so the woman problem has always been a man problem† (De Beauvoir, pg. 102). In these regards,