Master Topic

April 20, 2012

My name is Brenda Everly, I'm an oncology nurse for an acute care hospital in Southern California, and a clinical instructor for undergarduate nursing students in San Bernardino county. My topic of interest has been  the “ Physician's Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment” (POLST) form which is a healthcare advance directive that became a law in California on January 1, 2009. The law requires all healthcare providers caring for patients with documented end-of-life care wishes must be honored . My main focus regarding the POLST has been on teaching nursing students or healthcare providers how to communicate the advantages of having this document in place not only for the individual that has it, but for healthcare providers as well. This document has several advantages, however the most significant one is that this allows an individual to make important end-of- life decisions for themself instead of leaving the decision making up to the family, surragate or significant other. This is a difficult topic to discuss, yet encourage individuals to making these difficult decisions early and for themselves is much more important because at the end of the day the will  inhanced the quality of thier life. I have observed my patients over the years strive for quality in their lives and it has been empowering to me.Within the field of healthcare, quality of life is often regarded in terms of how it is negatively affected, on an individual level, an unforeseen mental/physical decline of a individual, chronic illness, the end-stage disease processes. However, researchers at the University of Toronto's Quality of Life Research Unit define quality of life as “The degree to which a person enjoys the important possibilities of his or her life” (UofT).Their Quality of Life Model is based on the categories “being”, “belonging”, and “becoming”, respectively who one is, how one is not connected to one's environment, and whether one achieves one's personal goals, hopes, and aspirations. My goals as an nurse is not only to provide quality care to my patients, but also to encourage independance and quality living; and as an educator my plan is to use the “Quality of Life Model” as the framework for teaching and evaluating the gerneral and emotional well-being of others. I encourage you to follow my blog for more quality updates.