Do nurses always know patients’ preferences?
Nurses have no better understanding of patients’ end-of-life preferences than family members and physicians, according to a study in the Sept. 25 issue of American Health Line.
The finding came as a surprise to lead author Ann Louise Puopolo, a former intensive care unit nurse. "My hypothesis was that nurses will know their patients’ preferences, because nurses know so much better what patients want due to the time and the intensity of the relationships they develop with patients," she explains.
Involving more than 1,700 patients and 1,500 nurses, the research effort is part of the Study to Understand Prognoses and Preferences for Outomes and Risks of Treatment (SUPPORT), which is designed to increase understanding of decision making and dying. SUPPORT is a 10-year project that involves 10,000 patients.
Some of the study’s findings revealed the following:
o Only 13% of nurses had talked about cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) with their patients.
o Nurses were more likely to discuss CPR with patients if the patient did not want CPR to prolong life, the nurse had spent more time with the patient, the patient was age 75 or older, or the patient had a terminal illness.
o Nurses correctly interpreted preferences of care for 74% of the patients with whom they had discussed CPR.
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