Medical Providers: Aiding the Healing Process in Contexts - Essay Sample

Introduction

The presence of medical providers and their role in the healing process go hand in hand with the awareness of contexts. From Matt's case, it is evident that the team is struggling to control Matt's pain due to the extremity of his bowel's infection (bowel resection). As the situation stands, the awareness context is in the level of open awareness. The main reason behind this inference is the fact that everyone, including Matt, is aware of the patient's condition, and acting openly towards it. For instance, Matt is being given medicine pain as the doctors explain their benefits and impacts. The only problem is that there is some confusion between doctors and Matt's family since the family thinks that it (medicine pain) would make him unwilling to fight to come off the ventilator. Overall, although no one is talking about it openly, they are aware that Matt is dying.

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To a significant extent, this awareness context impacts severely on the patient, family, and the members of the treatment team. Due to the open situation, it is right deducing that the impact is positive. The perfect illustration of the case is the situation where the family members keep telling Matt that he would be fine as long as he eats and takes vitamins while following the doctor's instruction. However, since there is no talking about the problem (silence surrounding the facts), the patient ends up dying alone with no connection. This outcome signifies a negative impact as far as the awareness context is concerned.

Regarding teamwork, it is an interdisciplinary team evident in Matt's case. In such a structure, all disciplines are equal and coordinate to meet patients' needs (Strada 35). In most cases, any person can be the team leader as long as palliative care or end-of-life care take place as required. In Matt's case, doctors and nurses with different missions coordinate but aiming to make the patient's situation better. They achieve the objective of making the patient physically comfortable, although he dies 11 days later. The aim is not to prolong his life.

Meeting With the Patient and Family

Meeting with the patient and the family is among the critical steps in palliative care, which requires a lot of caution to handle it as expected. One of the pertinent issues evident in this case is tolerance for ambiguity, which is necessary due to factors such as the possibility of a disease recurring or patient's failure to respond to the illness (Strada 58). Another issue is the management of affect- this has much to do with how the patient experiences and expresses emotions and how they benefit from doing so in other people's presence.

By meeting with Harold and his family, the palliative care team does everything necessary as far as the transition of care services, patient management, and managing patient's responses are concerned. The first input is explaining the importance of not avoiding pain medicine irrespective of the patient's fears. Harold knows that he is in pain and understands the problem. However, and to prevent the complication of the case, Dr. Meier and Dr. Avi Barbasch meet Harold, his wife, and two sons as they explain the importance of comfort, although cure is not possible due to his condition. From this interaction, Harold finally agrees to the regular administration of pain medicine. By letting feelings in, he agrees to supportive care and dies later (2-3 days) in the hospital.

One of the issues that emerge in this case and requires a lot of attention in palliative care is the connection between spirituality, religion, or existential values. It is essential to ask how these values are connected to the patient's sense of identity (Strada 59). These issues are evident in Harold's case and seem to affect his response to care services. Indeed, it is only after understanding the need for supportive care when Harold stops spending his spiritual and physical energies while trying to tolerate pain.

Pain

The topic of pain is extensive and comes with a host of issues when it comes to its management. One of the issues that emerge in the Moyers' video is the need to recognize how families and patients grieve when in pain. As a result, it is vital to know how to deal with worries as part of pain management since it affects how patients accept the processes used in palliative care. A perfect example of this case is Joyce. She is worrying since she wants to live longer. She worries about her children, and it is common for those who are dying to worry about the ones who they leave behind (Strada 67). This point implies that helping dying patients goes beyond giving them pain medicine to the extent of assessing and responding to issues that can derail the healing process.

The other issue is the link between healing strategies and people's perception. Like in the case of Barbara, many misconceptions usually make patients unease when taking medications. Barbara talks of being perceived as a drug addict- this means that there is a stigma surrounding the pain management process. Unless such issues are dealt with appropriately, it will be challenging to help some patients in times of need.

People's backgrounds and their beliefs can be a significant setback during palliative care. Some family's values and other factors, such as religious affiliation, usually affect how a patient embraces the treatment process. It is vital to evaluate how these values affect the patient's behaviors and their decision-making process (Strada 59). If that is not the case, pain management will be challenging. Harold's experiences in the video are a perfect illustration of the link between pain management and people's beliefs.

Anxiety and Healing Presence

The case of Joyce manifests how anxiety develops in patients during end-of-life care and how they become restless due to many factors. Regarding her level of anxiety, Joyce is in the panic level. Her anxiety is more than severe. There are many causes, and Joyce's problems are primarily psychological and physical. Some of the concerns common in these domains include changes in life situations and anticipation of pain as well as the awareness of approaching death (Strada 113). Joyce is panicking due to the possibility of going through a painful death process. Death is imminent in her case, although she is sixty years old. Also, she fears separation from her children, and as a Methodist, there is that attachment to religious life, mainly because she is a Sunday school teacher. Overall, she is worrying more about the aftermath, which is common in such a stage in life.

Healing presence has all to do with assuring patient safety, making them feel complete while taking care of them in harmony with those close to them. In Joyce's case, Dr. Morrison's healing presence impacted Joyce's situation positively. The reason being, it brought a sense of well-being while ensuring that Joyce understood all that was taking place. When it comes to characteristics of the healing presence, compassion is among the qualities universally accepted. It makes the patient to be understood without judgment (Strada 28). Other aspects include confidence and developing a listening practice. Confidence ensures that the doctor can ask and answer difficult questions.

Social Inequality of Illness

Palliative care and decisions made during the end-of-life period have a significant disparity depending on where people live. In the video, social inequality of illness and death is evident, and the pertinent issues include culture/ethnicity and people's income. From Mr. Gentry's case, there is a struggle to take palliative care to poor neighborhoods and under-served populations. In most cases, the under-served communities are in such a state due to their low income driven by their cultural orientation. These factors go further to affect how populations approach the issue of death and dying due to perceptions. For instance, black patients have low (half) acceptance of do-not-resuscitate (DNR) orders compared to whites (Searight and Gafford 520). With such problems, there will always be a vast difference among cultures as far as social inequality of illness and death is concerned.

Justice involves two critical factors. The first is treating all individuals fairly, and the other one is the equitable allocation of resources. In the video, the response that Mr. Gentry receives shows that those offering palliative care embrace this principle by providing a fair response to the patient. Furthermore, care providers show real interest in working with groups who do not have access to healthcare. This inequitable distribution of health care resources limits the provision of palliative care. It goes further to affect how people understand death and illnesses and how they prepare for them.

In the case of Mr. Gentry, substituted judgment is evident. To a significant extent, the patient's inability to decide for himself is driven by the fact that he is among under-served populations. Although Mr. Gentry is terminally ill, there was no plan for his continuous care as the disease progressed. The family had also not decided what to do with patients in such a situation. This point implies that there were no advanced directives which make communication between physician, patient, and the family easy at such times. Given this, doctors decide on the patient's behalf since the patient is not in a position to make an autonomous decision. Cultural perceptions affect communities' acceptance of advanced directives, and blacks seem to be the most affected (Searight and Gafford 519-520). As the cultural segmentation continues to disadvantage some populations, many families are not competent to make sound decisions regarding how a family member should be treated when terminally ill.

Imminently Dying Patients

At times, it may be challenging to prolong life, and what is only left is to let the patient die. Signs of death at this stage should be communicated to the family while ensuring their wishes regarding the care setting for death have been documented. When educating the family about signs and symptoms of an approaching death, the process should be culturally, developmentally, and age-appropriate (Strada 174). Dr. Morrison visits Joyce's family at a critical period, and there is no denying that he excels as far as recognizing and communicating the signs and symptoms of impending death are concerned. He talks about the difference at home and a healthcare facility, and why it is vital to let the patient die at times. Also, the doctor mentions something to do with how caregivers struggle, depending on the situation, while clarifying the family's responsibility. As a result, he restores calmness and assures the family that it is not mandated to provide personal care.

Comparing the two situations, the healing presence brings almost the same effect in both instances. It brings a sense of wellbeing since Dr. Morrison handles the two cases compassionately. Regarding that, it is right deducing that the healing presence was the same when addressing Joyce's family and when addressing her individually.

Meaning and Existentialism

The dying process comes in many forms and can be confusing. It is always recommended to respect the choices that patients make, particularly if it is evident that life cannot be prolonged. In palliative care, the best description for existentialism is to recognize that an individual has free will and is the one with ultimate responsibility for the decisions that he or she makes. In this case, people not only have the capacity to choose behaviors but also their meaning in life. For instance, the pre-active dying phase makes patients weak and increasingly lethargic before moving to the active dying stage (Strada 175). Due to the inevitable pain, patients may make controversial decisions. The choices th...