Evidence-Based Project: palliative care
I have always been interested in investigating ways of improving the patients’ quality of life and their overall state. Especially, this is relevant to palliative care because I understand that these patients may be exposed to numerous health problems that are connected not only to their physical features but psychological and mental as well (Matzo & Sherman, 2014). Therefore, improving the state of palliative patients using custom-designed interventions is one of the most important health care goals for me. I also believe that this particular issue will help me to identify several efficient ways to treat symptoms and manage the patients’ social and expressive needs (Becker, 2015). Moreover, the implementation of nurse practitioner-led interventions is expected to address the practical concerns of the issue. Also, palliative care is a very important topic because the caregiver has to be responsible for numerous aspects of care (including commonplace tasks such as assisting the patient, providing psychological support and transportation, and offering financial help if necessary) (Matzo & Sherman, 2014). To conclude, palliative care piqued my interest because it allows the caregiver to make the best effort in terms of identifying the most competent way to deal with palliative patients.
The notion of palliative care is closely related to my area of specialization and I hope that this project will help me to improve my professional skills and become a more knowledgeable and versatile nurse practitioner. Also, it will probably help me to address several challenges that are inherent in palliative care but are not addressed in the existing literature on this subject (Becker, 2015). It is expected that this project will positively affect my leadership and management skills because they are critical for a nurse practitioner interested in palliative care.
The idea that there is evidence concerning the benefits of palliative care is supported by the literature review on the subject that was conducted to identify the upsides of palliative care and improved outcomes in palliative patients (45 trials, 13000 adults with terminal illnesses, 2600 family caregivers) (Matzo & Sherman, 2014). Throughout the process of this meta-analysis, it was found that there is a direct relationship between the essential outcomes of palliative care (symptoms, quality of life, survival) and palliative care itself. The overall effect of the proposed interventions was characterized as positive. In his book, Becker (2015) combined the results of the trials and claimed that improvements in patient outcomes were accomplished using the evidence-based approach and positively impacted caregivers’ and patients’ satisfaction with care. The evidence also suggests that there are critical advancements in care planning and reduction of health care utilization (Becker, 2015). The author also presented evidence regarding health care expenses and patient mood.
The current project will be evidence-based research because it will be based on real-life examples and generate realistic outcomes instead of the evidence concerning the effectiveness of nurse practitioner-led interventions in palliative patients. It is also suggested that the project will be based on quantitative data instead of performing a meta-analysis of previous research in the area. The effects of the evidence-based approach will only be visible if real-life examples and practices are employed. All the outcomes in palliative patients will be processed and compared to the previous results to validate the effectiveness of the proposed interventions.
References
Becker, R. (2015). Fundamental aspects of palliative care nursing: An evidence-based handbook for student nurses (2nd ed.). London, UK: Quay Books.
Matzo, M., & Sherman, D. (2014). Palliative care nursing: Quality care to the end of life (4th ed.). New York, NY: Springer.
Moyle, W., Parker, D., & Bramble, M. (2014). Care of older adults: A strengths-based approach. Port Melbourne, Australia: Cambridge University Press.