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The Healing Impact of Palliative Care Gerontology

by Sallie Guthrie, RN

  Palliative care, the phrase associated with terminal illness and death, the choice when all hope is gone. Physicians and nurses often treat this option of care with distaste and suspicion, as if palliative care is the same as an execution order. The reality is palliative care is a philosophy and treatment to give an improved quality of life to those near the end of life and those with life-limiting conditions. Our society is removed from the natural process of death; it is feared, a foe to be beaten by technology for if a patient dies it is because medicine failed. So the question remains, is death and dying unnatural, do we stop treatment and abandon patients because we can’t cure them? No, it is time to understand and incorporate the truth and value of palliative care into our healthcare and treatment of patients. It is vital that healthcare professionals are educated about what palliative care can do for this increasing group of patients. Cont'd

 

 

How Personal Digital Assistants Can Increase the Quality of Nursing Care Provided in the Hospital Setting


Jennifer Predhomme BScN
University of Windsor

Abstract

Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) are pocket-sized computers that are capable of accessing the Internet, sending and receiving data, and storing textbooks worth of information. These tools have the potential to help nurses increase the quality of care that they provide in the hospital setting. PDAs have been shown to increase evidence-based practice and decrease medication errors by making relevant information available right at the point-of-care. PDAs have also been shown to save nurses’ time by increasing the efficiency and accuracy of electronic patient charting, and by decreasing the time that it takes nurses to research medication information. The integration of PDAs into nursing practice pose individual, technical, and financial challenges, as well as patient confidentiality and infection control concerns. However, as nurses and organizations begin to recognize the potential for PDAs, and as more nursing-focused software and resources continue to be developed, PDAs truly have the potential to revolutionize the way that nurses provide and record care. Cont'd

 

 
Gonzga Nursing School