Week 3: Discussion: Using the Walden Library
My name is Felicia Fultz, RN, and my Master of Science practice area is Family Nurse Practitioner. Currently, I work at a nursing home with rehabilitation where several residents have cancer, become long-term care residents, then progress towards the end of life and choose to go into hospice care. As I enter this program, I lean more towards specializing in Hospice care as an APRN. This article reviews the hospice patient and the care they receive. In the article, four themes were identified that explain the experience of hospice care for patients with advanced cancer. Number one is the absence of prior awareness, number two is acceptance of the patient’s diagnosis, and how the family receives the news, the third is the specific care and concern for patients’ loved ones after their passing, and last of all is pursuing the meaning of life for the patient and accomplishing their last wishes. (Huang et al., 2022) As a prior hospice nurse I met with several patients as they were leaving the hospital and going home on hospice. Sometimes it was very joyous and sometimes it was very sad. Some patients have an amazing support system and others do not. “Patient or family participation in medication decisions was documented for only 22% patients on discharge to hospice care. Opportunities to improve participation likely include increasing knowledge and capacity regarding primary palliative care for all clinicians and implementation of specialized interventions for patients and families transitioning to hospice care from acute care settings.” (Noble et al., 2022) When a patient goes home on hospice, they need all the support they can get. I encourage the whole family to be that patients circle of love and advocate for the family to always put the patient first. I chose this article because it explains my thoughts about my experiences with hospice care. “The Experience of Reflexive Hospice Care for Patients with Advanced Cancer: A Qualitative Study.” (Zhang et al., 2024) “Interestingly, some participants reported that although they were caring for others, the reflexive hospice care had given them a great deal of ‘energy’ and diverted their attention from the pain of the illness. This has brought them great spiritual fulfilment and a sense of dignity. Even while they were ill, they still felt valuable to others and society and experienced a sense of being needed.” (Zhang et al., 2024)
APA Formatted Citation
Huang, D., Huang, H., Mao, J., & Zeng, T. (2022). Reflexive Hospice Care: A Concept
Analysis. Journal of Palliative Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1089/jpm.2021.0570
Noble, B. N., Izumi, S., Tjia, J., Ku, I. Y., Kadoyama, K. L., McPherson, M. L., & Furuno,
- P. (2022). Patient and Family Participation in Medication Decisions on Discharge to Hospice Care. Journal of Palliative Medicine, 25(12), 1790–1794. https://doi.org/10.1089/jpm.2021.0630
Zhang, X., Zeng, T., & Chen, Y. (2024). The Experience of Reflexive Hospice Care for
Patients With Advanced Cancer: A Qualitative Study. Journal of Clinical Nursing. https://doi.org/10.1111/jocn.17541
Database Selection
For this discussion I utilized the Walden University Library database of choice for finding an article of interest relevant to my area of practice. I chose this database because Walden University gives students available resources that are easily found and illustrated for the specific topic needed.
Recommendation of Database
I would recommend this database to my colleagues as it is a very reliable source of information and contains various types of works, not limited to journal articles. This source also can be categorized into peer reviewed articles and journals to read and review. I do highly recommend this database as the filters and very wide range of sources make this easier for the student to research any specific topic in healthcare.
Difficulties with Utilization
The biggest difficulty I have found with searching for an article is making sure the article reflects my thought process and making sure that it flows well while using the APA format. I have a flight of ideas and then read another article to see if I like it better. Sometimes this is a bad thing because I then become overstimulated and stray away from my original thought process.
References:
Huang, D., Huang, H., Mao, J., & Zeng, T. (2022). Reflexive Hospice Care: A Concept
Analysis. Journal of Palliative Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1089/jpm.2021.0570
Noble, B. N., Izumi, S., Tjia, J., Ku, I. Y., Kadoyama, K. L., McPherson, M. L., & Furuno,
- P. (2022). Patient and Family Participation in Medication Decisions on Discharge to Hospice Care. Journal of Palliative Medicine, 25(12), 1790–1794. https://doi.org/10.1089/jpm.2021.0630
Zhang, X., Zeng, T., & Chen, Y. (2024). The Experience of Reflexive Hospice Care for
Patients With Advanced Cancer: A Qualitative Study. Journal of Clinical Nursing. https://doi.org/10.1111/jocn.17541
Where can you find evidence to inform your thoughts and scholarly writing? Throughout your degree program, you will use research literature to explore ideas, guide your thinking, and gain new insights. As you search the research literature, it is important to use resources that are peer-reviewed and from scholarly journals. You may already have some favorite online resources and databases that you use or have found useful in the past. For this Discussion, you explore databases available through the Walden Library.
