This document summarizes the stories of two women, Mary Eigel and Rita-Marie Geary, who have lived with chronic pain for most of their lives. It describes how attitudes and treatments for chronic pain have changed over time. Both women grew up in environments where pain was not discussed openly and treatment options were limited. However, they now have access to more support, information resources, and a wider range of medical and alternative treatment options. This has helped them to better manage their pain and lead more active lives.
Healing Hope How To Tell Your Children When Mommy Has Cancerbkling
When award-winning author Wendy S. Harpham, MD (When a Parent has Cancer: A Guide to Caring for Your Children) was diagnosed with cancer, her three children were 1, 3, and 5 years old. Over subsequent years, she guided them through her recurrences. In this webinar, Dr. Harpham shares insights about helping children through a mother's cancer diagnosis in healthy, hopeful ways. This webinar took place on December 17, 2018.
Grief in the NICU: Identifying, Understanding and Helping Grieving ParentsKirsti Dyer MD, MS
PowerPoint slides presented March 31, 2009 as a Teleconference for "Managing the Spectrum of Maternal Mental Health Issues from Conception through the Neonatal Experience" at the HHC Perinatal Conference held at Jacobi Medical Center.
Contact me if you are interested in using this lecture.
Healing Hope How To Tell Your Children When Mommy Has Cancerbkling
When award-winning author Wendy S. Harpham, MD (When a Parent has Cancer: A Guide to Caring for Your Children) was diagnosed with cancer, her three children were 1, 3, and 5 years old. Over subsequent years, she guided them through her recurrences. In this webinar, Dr. Harpham shares insights about helping children through a mother's cancer diagnosis in healthy, hopeful ways. This webinar took place on December 17, 2018.
Grief in the NICU: Identifying, Understanding and Helping Grieving ParentsKirsti Dyer MD, MS
PowerPoint slides presented March 31, 2009 as a Teleconference for "Managing the Spectrum of Maternal Mental Health Issues from Conception through the Neonatal Experience" at the HHC Perinatal Conference held at Jacobi Medical Center.
Contact me if you are interested in using this lecture.
Ethics of Pain Care: what duties do we have to patients with chronic pain?Mark Sullivan
In this presentation, I ask: what duties do we have to patients with chronic pain? I examine the case of Daniel, a 48-year-old man with chronic back, neck and head pain after a motor vehicle accident 8 years previously. I argue that our foremost duty to patients with chronic pain is not to reduce their pain intensity but to improve their health. Titrating opioid doses to a pain level may reduce pain and at the same time make it harder for a patient to live his or her life.
Ethics at the End of Life and Introduction to Hospice and Palliative Care for Medical Students. Exploration of feeding tubes, code status, when to stop chemo. Discusses cases and the ethical principles and values that are the basis for disagreement in care and what to do when there is a conflict in ethical principles themselves. Also provides an introduction to decisions of last resort including physician aid in dying, palliative sedation and voluntary refusal of nutrition and hydration.
Talking to Your Family about Hereditary CancerMelissa Sakow
Karen Hurley, Ph.D., shares strategies for managing the sources of conflict that surround genetic testing within families. Includes whether or not to pursue testing, reaching out to at-risk relatives and the stress that can arise from hereditary disease. Karen Hurley, Ph.D., is a licensed clinical psychologist specializing in hereditary cancer risk.
Presented in collaboration with FORCE.
This case study is from my Death, Dying, and Bereavement course. It is an assessment on a 9-year old female who is actively dying from Cystic Fibrosis.
'National Standards for Bereavement Care Following Pregnancy Loss and Perinat...Irish Hospice Foundation
'National Standards for Bereavement Care Following Pregnancy Loss and Perinatal Death' (Presentation at Maternity and Neonatal Network, April 2015) [MNN 13]
La tutela del software e' un problema recente collegato alla continua espansione e applicazione delle nuove teconologie informatiche. Anche l'ordinamento italiano dopo anni di dibattito, con il d. lgs 518/92, accoglie l'impostazione della Direttiva CEE n. 91/250, secondo la quale debbono considerarsi come opere dell'ingegno, o meglio, come opera letteraria e quindi godere della tutela prevista dalla legge sul diritto d’autore, i "programmi per elaboratore".
Ethics of Pain Care: what duties do we have to patients with chronic pain?Mark Sullivan
In this presentation, I ask: what duties do we have to patients with chronic pain? I examine the case of Daniel, a 48-year-old man with chronic back, neck and head pain after a motor vehicle accident 8 years previously. I argue that our foremost duty to patients with chronic pain is not to reduce their pain intensity but to improve their health. Titrating opioid doses to a pain level may reduce pain and at the same time make it harder for a patient to live his or her life.
Ethics at the End of Life and Introduction to Hospice and Palliative Care for Medical Students. Exploration of feeding tubes, code status, when to stop chemo. Discusses cases and the ethical principles and values that are the basis for disagreement in care and what to do when there is a conflict in ethical principles themselves. Also provides an introduction to decisions of last resort including physician aid in dying, palliative sedation and voluntary refusal of nutrition and hydration.
Talking to Your Family about Hereditary CancerMelissa Sakow
Karen Hurley, Ph.D., shares strategies for managing the sources of conflict that surround genetic testing within families. Includes whether or not to pursue testing, reaching out to at-risk relatives and the stress that can arise from hereditary disease. Karen Hurley, Ph.D., is a licensed clinical psychologist specializing in hereditary cancer risk.
Presented in collaboration with FORCE.
This case study is from my Death, Dying, and Bereavement course. It is an assessment on a 9-year old female who is actively dying from Cystic Fibrosis.
'National Standards for Bereavement Care Following Pregnancy Loss and Perinat...Irish Hospice Foundation
'National Standards for Bereavement Care Following Pregnancy Loss and Perinatal Death' (Presentation at Maternity and Neonatal Network, April 2015) [MNN 13]
La tutela del software e' un problema recente collegato alla continua espansione e applicazione delle nuove teconologie informatiche. Anche l'ordinamento italiano dopo anni di dibattito, con il d. lgs 518/92, accoglie l'impostazione della Direttiva CEE n. 91/250, secondo la quale debbono considerarsi come opere dell'ingegno, o meglio, come opera letteraria e quindi godere della tutela prevista dalla legge sul diritto d’autore, i "programmi per elaboratore".
Ethical Dilemma In the documentary The Invisible.docxhumphrieskalyn
Ethical Dilemma
In the documentary The Invisible Patients, Jessica, a nurse practitioner for home-limited patients, is faced with several ethical dilemmas. For example, Jessica provides care for an elderly couple named Wink and Patty Sherrill. Both Patty and Wink are prescribed narcotics to manage their arthritis pain. During a routine urine drug screen, it is discovered that Patty does not have any trace of her pain medication in her system, yet she is still having her narcotic prescription refilled regularly. This obviously raises concerns for medication diversion. Patty is presumably giving her narcotics to her husband or selling her narcotics, which is a clear violation of her pain contract. She is banned from her primary care MD’s practice, which causes her great difficulty in finding another healthcare provider. Jessica feels that it is her responsibility to provide care for this couple.
This scenario raises the ethical dilemma of beneficence versus nonmaleficence. The principle of beneficence is “the duty to do good and prevent or remove harm" (Hamric, Hanson, Tracy, O'Grady, 2014, p. 337). Prescribing narcotics to those experiencing chronic pain and disability is a necessary and beneficent act of healthcare providers. The principle of nonmaleficence is “the duty not to inflict harm or evil” (Hamric et al., 2014, p.337). Prescribing narcotics to a patient who is suspected of narcotics diversion has the potential to cause harm to the person who is taking the narcotics illicitly. Jessica must now decide which principle to follow and which principle to potentially break. Jessica decides that even though Patty is abusing her prescription, she does in fact still need her narcotics and continues to prescribe the pain medicine.
My
Solution
In this scenario, I would not continue to prescribe Patty narcotics. Since she is not taking her pain medications but still seeking refills, she is abusing her prescription and the trust placed in her. If she is diverting her narcotics to her husband and/or selling them on the street, this places Wink and/or the narcotic abuser at risk for health complications such as respiratory depression, constipation, drug dependence, increased tolerance, and narcotic withdrawal in the future. I believe Wink has a legitimate need for pain medications, but he should be honest and open with Jessica about the need to increase his pain medications or try different modalities if his pain is not properly controlled. Regardless of motive, illegally diverting narcotics is a breach in contract and should not be overlooked.
If I were presented with this scenario, I would have talked with Patty and Wink about Patty’s narcotic diversion and sought an alternative solution to continuing to prescribe narcotics. If Patty were in fact giving her narcotics to her husband to help control his pain, I would adjust Wink’s medications and pain management strategy. If they were selling their excess n.
For this assignment, consider the following case and then using th.docxbudbarber38650
For this assignment, consider the following case and then using the internet, course materials, and the Library, compose reasoned responses to the questions that follow.
In the mid 1970s, a nursing educator in Idaho had contact, through a student, with a female client who had chronic myelogenous leukemia. This form of leukemia can often be managed for years with little or no chemotherapy. The woman had done well for about twelve years and ascribed her good condition to health foods and a strict nutritional regime. However, her condition had turned worse several weeks before and her physician had advised her that she needed chemotherapy if she were to have any chance at survival. The physician had also advised her of the potential side effects of the therapy including hair loss, nausea, fever, and immune system suppression.
The woman consented to the therapy and signed the appropriate forms, but later, she began to have second thoughts. The nursing educator and student had given the patient one dose of the therapy when the woman began to cry and express her reservations about the therapy. She questioned the nurse about alternative treatments to the use of chemotherapy. The patient related that she had accepted the therapy because her son had advised her that this was the best treatment. She related that she had not asked about alternate forms of treatment as the physician had indicated that chemotherapy was the only treatment indicated. The nurse did not discuss the patient's concerns with the physician, and later that evening, she talked to the patient about alternate therapies. In the discussion, rather nontraditional and controversial therapies were covered including reflexology and the use of laetrile. During the talk, the nurse made it very clear that the treatments under discussion were not sanctioned by the medical community.
The patient's feelings toward alternate therapies were strengthened by the evening's conversation; however, she continued with chemotherapy. The treatments, however, did not bring remission to her crisis and she died two weeks later. Upon hearing about the conversation between the off duty nurse educator and his patient, the physician brought charges against the nurse for unprofessional conduct and interfering with the patient-physician relationship. (In re Tuma, 1977).
1. What, if anything, did the nurse do wrong?
2. Had she moved beyond her scope of practice?
3. Could the nurse's conduct be justified under the patient advocate portion of her role?
4. If you were a member of the state board for nursing and had to decide the issue of unprofessional conduct and interference with the patient-physician relationship, would you sanction the nurse?
Support your responses with evidence and cite your sources.
Length 4 pages not counting the case. At least 4 references; scholarly sources
COURSE MATERIAL INFORMATION
: Ethical Principles and Dilemmas of Confidentiality, Veracity, and Fidelity
Health care .
Part of a 12 part series of courses at AllCEUs.com resulting in the receipt of a certificate in eating disorders counseling. Addresses bulimia, binge eating, anorexia, obesity. Uses The Body Betrayed by Zerbe and Brief Therapy with Eating Disorders by McDonald in addition to Dr. Snipes clinical experiences.
352 BUMC PROCEEDINGS 2001;14:352–357
The technological advances of the past century tended tochange the focus of medicine from a caring, service-oriented model to a technological, cure-oriented model.
Technology has led to phenomenal advances in medicine and
has given us the ability to prolong life. However, in the past few
decades physicians have attempted to balance their care by re-
claiming medicine’s more spiritual roots, recognizing that until
modern times spirituality was often linked with health care.
Spiritual or compassionate care involves serving the whole per-
son—the physical, emotional, social, and spiritual. Such service
is inherently a spiritual activity. Rachel Naomi Remen, MD, who
has developed Commonweal retreats for people with cancer, de-
scribed it well:
Helping, fixing, and serving represent three different ways of see-
ing life. When you help, you see life as weak. When you fix, you
see life as broken. When you serve, you see life as whole. Fixing
and helping may be the work of the ego, and service the work of
the soul (1).
Serving patients may involve spending time with them, hold-
ing their hands, and talking about what is important to them.
Patients value these experiences with their physicians. In this
article, I discuss elements of compassionate care, review some
research on the role of spirituality in health care, highlight ad-
vantages of understanding patients’ spirituality, explain ways to
practice spiritual care, and summarize some national efforts to
incorporate spirituality into medicine.
COMPASSIONATE CARE: HELPING PATIENTS FIND MEANING IN
THEIR SUFFERING AND ADDRESSING THEIR SPIRITUALITY
The word compassion means “to suffer with.” Compassionate
care calls physicians to walk with people in the midst of their
pain, to be partners with patients rather than experts dictating
information to them.
Victor Frankl, a psychiatrist who wrote of his experiences in
a Nazi concentration camp, wrote: “Man is not destroyed by suf-
fering; he is destroyed by suffering without meaning” (2). One
of the challenges physicians face is to help people find meaning
and acceptance in the midst of suffering and chronic illness.
Medical ethicists have reminded us that religion and spiritual-
ity form the basis of meaning and purpose for many people (3).
At the same time, while patients struggle with the physical as-
pects of their disease, they have other pain as well: pain related
to mental and spiritual suffering, to an inability to engage the
deepest questions of life. Patients may be asking questions such
The role of spirituality in health care
CHRISTINA M. PUCHALSKI, MD, MS
From The George Washington Institute for Spirituality and Health (GWish), The
George Washington University Medical Center Departments of Medicine and
Health Care Sciences, and The George Washington University, Washington, DC.
Presented at Baylor University Medical Center on February 28, 2001, as the Baylor-
Charles A. Sammons Cancer Center Charlotte ...
1 Health assessment
Abiodun Kassim
Rasmussen University
Professor Ceaira Moore
Professor Gen-Gen Gutierrez
October 17th, 2022
2 Health assessment
Introduction
The case is about the health history of a family member who has had a history of arthritis
from a very young age. When he was 35 years who got his first joint pain, and since then, his pain
has gotten severe, and he is suffering from joint pain in the knees, ankles, and wrist. He has a
family background with this disease. His mother and father were both patients of arthritis.
Although he is getting medical treatment, now, at the age of 60, he cannot walk comfortably, so he
is reluctant to share his condition and review the system he is living in. The interview was
conducted with the patient, and the summary is given below.
1. Willingness Of a Person to Share Information and Ways Adopted Convince
The person was not willing to share his arthritis information. He has been a patient of this
disease for about 25 years. Initially, he did take this seriously and didn't use any proper medication.
He relied on OTC and took any medicine he thought that good for his arthritis. He was a bit
aggressive as he saw both his parents in that situation, and through medicine, he never helped in
curing. So, he didn't take his condition severe and didn't consult a doctor at the start of the disease.
He used to prefer Panadol, diclofenac sodium, and piroxicam. He was on self-therapy. With the
passage of time, the disease got severity, and now his condition is bad. He is unable to walk.
Because of his negligence, he spoiled his health badly. When I asked them to share his information
about arthritis, he was reluctant to share. But he is soft-hearted and has a very good friend to me. I
asked and took permission. Told him about my project and its importance in completing it. He
always appreciated my studies and hard work. Therefore, he melted and encouraged my efforts to
be part of the health field. So, when again I asked about his medical history, he agreed to provide
all key information. I only used the emotional strategy and motivated him that if he shared his
3 Health assessment
information with me, I would surely find some solution so he could able to walk. Like I convinced
him to do joint replacement and provided examples of patients in the hospital that joint
replacement helped them walk again.
2. Was there any part of the interview that was more challenging? If so, what part and
how did you deal with it?
Common observations and research have revoked that interviewing patients suffering from
long-term disease is sometimes challenging(Hardavella, 2017). There are different cases when it’s
hard to communicate with a patient to get an appropriate answer. During my interview with my
uncle, the time was challenging when he briefed me about his self-medication and his negligence
regarding the treatment. In that case, I have inappropriate words and phrases to ask why he was so
negligent, as he had a history of.
1. 2
by Erin Hart
Years of Living with Pain
Stories of Changing Attitudes and Treatment
Chronic pain can be a traumatic burden for those carry it
on their journey through life. But pain conditions that
were once met with silence and ineffective treatments
are now received by a patient-centered, more well-informed
medical community. This transformation is welcomed by
individuals such as these two women, and has helped them
lead higher-quality lives.
Offer it Up
“Pain is your pathway to God.”
An Irish Catholic girl growing up in the 1950s, Mary Eigel heard
this sentiment frequently. Born with bilateral hip dysplasia
(which she wasn’t aware of until she was 25), she knew not to
complain about the pain. If she did complain—or asked why
this was happening—her question was either met with silence,
an “I don’t know,” or a reminder to “offer it up.”
“Doctors at the time likely told my parents that my condition
would likely cause me to be a cripple, and that they should
make sure I did not use my legs aggressively,” Eigel said. “Being
that my parents were Irish, a nationality that believed pain was
the result of something bad an ancestor had done (and was
now coming back to haunt the next generation), they did their
best to encourage my participation in things such as the arts
that redirected my mental energy into something positive.”
So Eigel immersed herself in creativity—painting, sewing, and
crafts—activities she could do sitting down. Instead of running,
jumping, or walking outside with her friends, she rode her bike.
When pain hit, she took an 80 mg. St. Joseph’s aspirin, the only
form of pain medication that was in the house.
Pain Relief: Then and Now
A lack of pain relievers to treat her discomfort wasn’t unusual
in those days. While conducting research for her book Silent
Courage (available at IndieBound, Amazon, and Barnes &
Noble), Eigel learned that babies and children undergoing
surgery in the 1970s were not given any pain medications.
The doctors believed that children’s nervous systems were
not developed enough to feel pain.
By the time Eigel was 14, she was earning her own money
from babysitting. She went out and bought over-the-counter
pain medications that she paired with her own mental efforts
to counteract the physical hurt. Stronger meds came into the
picture when she was in her late 20s (Naprosyn, which is now
known as naproxen). However, Eigel said the side effects fogged
her brain. She would forget to pick up the kids at school and
would frequently forget their names.
So she began self-managing the medication—taking it only at
night before bed and enduring the pain throughout the day.
Then a car accident in 2003 and subsequent injuries prompted
her doctor to prescribe another medication, which led to liver
toxicity and illness.
With her doctor’s blessing, she tried alternative treatments—
acupuncture, Chinese herbs, reiki, healing touch, preservative-
and additive-free diets, meditation, and writing. Eigel said
this new approach was the turning point for her, in that she
became more responsible for her health. The realization hit,
she said, that her spirit, body, and mind all mattered. And if
she wasn’t taking care of all of them, then she wasn’t effectively
managing her pain.
More Support, Engagement, and Social Awareness
Thankfully, she and others living with chronic pain have much
more support from the medical community today. Eigel said
that in her experience, younger doctors have been more open
to medicinal and non-medicinal pain approaches. Insurance
companies are slowly beginning to cover medically prescribed
holistic treatments. And primary care physicians are more likely
to refer patients to an integrative medicine facility, pain center,
or specialist for more focused and individualized treatment.
But the biggest change, Eigel said, is that people are taking
ownership.
“The Internet has given individuals a way to
take control of their conditions.We can read
about things, see things, and then take that
information back to our doctors.We can
participate in ACPA support groups, talk with
friends or other acquaintances that may have
chronic pain, or connect with people on
Facebook or other social media support groups.
C O N T I N U E D O N P A G E 3 . . . | TOP |
2. 3
C O N T I N U E D O N P A G E 4 . . .
More information and more tools are being made readily
available. Depending on your doctor for all the right
information is a thing of the past,” Eigel said.
On a societal level, Eigel said the psychology surrounding
all pain is evolving. People are more accepting of those who
may need a little more help, even if the condition may not
be obvious. Some parents even create organizations to address
the special needs of a child with pain. Eigel’s own father,
who was ahead of his time, made her custom furniture to
accommodate the casts she wore after surgery to reposition
her femurs at 1 ½ years old.
Communication is Key
Eigel says the biggest transformation for her has been learning
to communicate effectively, whether through writing or speak-
ing. She shares this with others on similar paths, explaining
that communicating needs in an appropriate way isn’t
viewed as complaining; it’s asking for help in a positive way.
Sometimes, a change in attitude or viewpoint is all that’s
needed.
“Pain is what I’ve been given, but suffering is what I can
control,” Eigel said. “And it’s up to me to adapt. In writing my
book, I found that when we can step back and separate what
has happened to us from who we want to be, then we are
clearing some pathways for better things to come.”
Silence is Not Golden
When she was growing up, Rita-Marie Geary distinctly
remembers the silence that surrounded her pain.
Starting at the age of 3, she experienced near-constant earaches.
Her mother, although somewhat supportive in her actions,
chose not to speak much about it. By her preteens, as the
ear pain began to fade, Geary’s abdominal pain started. Her
mother took her to a family doctor, who after five years of
labs and testing, directed them to a gynecologist. For whatever
reason, said Geary, her mother and the doctor remained quiet
on the diagnosis. And Geary was simply prescribed frequent
doses of ibuprofen and Tylenol with codeine—common pain
relievers for that time.
For an entire decade, she followed this doctor’s prescription,
which her body became dependent on, even during times
when her pain was manageable. Geary incorporated her own
self-treatment methods—self-hypnosis, distractions, hobbies,
prayer, and warm compresses—to power through the rough
times. She also realized that she needed to become her own
advocate, learn her true diagnosis and figure out a way to take
charge of something that had plagued her for most of her life.
“I was in my 30s before I learned I had endometriosis—
something my mom knew very early on, but never shared
with me,” Geary said. “Perhaps it was because she didn’t really
know what to do. There were also several times that I didn’t
have insurance, so treatment would have been costly. Patients
were not aware of available treatment plans. So, instead,
doctors merely wrote a prescription.”
Evolving Knowledge and Treatments
Thankfully, as the years have passed, physician understanding
and approaches have evolved. Thanks to the Internet and
support groups, people are more well-informed than ever.
Doctors are helping people better describe their various types
of pain—as a gynecologist had done for Geary. Geary, like Mary
Eigel, finds that her physicians are more open-minded about
emerging pain management techniques because they learn
from people with pain.
“If a provider hasn’t had many patients with chronic pain,
then a lot of times, they don’t have the instinct, or may lack
the experience and knowledge to diagnose and treat accurately.
And that’s where people with pain come in—and the need for
us to be vocal about our conditions, what we are experiencing
feeling, or how we are reacting or not reacting.
Mary Eigel with her husband George
Eigel says the biggest transformation
for her has been learning to
communicate effectively, whether
through writing or speaking
C O N T I N U E D F R O M P A G E 2 . . .
| TOP |
3. We live with it; we know it inside out. The shift takes place
when we find a doctor who is willing to treat more than
just the pain.” And, she continued, medical care is even
more effective when doctors seek out the “root” cause of
the symptoms.
Geary is fortunate in that she has doctors who listen—and
who are open about other ways of treating chronic pain.
Her primary doctor supports her use of laser therapy and
chiropractic care. Her podiatrist recently prescribed a
compound cream, reiki, and acupuncture.
She has explored water therapy, TENS, biologics, mindfulness,
music and art therapies, massage therapy, and more. Each one
has offered relief in its own unique way. Unfortunately, many
insurance companies don’t cover them, which makes long-term
use largely unaffordable. This prevents people with pain from
therapies that could help them find a better quality of life.
Taking Charge of Change
Outside of the medical community, a societal shift in
perception is slowly under way. Geary believes the media
and Internet have helped in terms of education. There are
also more health fairs and support groups. It’s a kinder, more
open-minded environment than the one she grew up in, when
she was viewed as a “frail and sickly child,” one that was to be
avoided so that the “affliction” wasn’t passed along.
But there is still progress to be made. Many people in Geary’s
life still don’t understand why she can do something one day,
but then not be able to do it another day. Folks still have the
mindset that “lots of people have pain. Get over it.” But mostly,
she’s had a strong support system.
And attitude is half the battle, Geary said.
“Taking an active role in managing your pain facilitates
understanding—and the sense that you do matter. When I was
growing up, I felt that what I was going through—and what I
was feeling—didn’t matter. But I had a choice in how I viewed
my journey and how I would manage it in a much different
light—and I grabbed hold of it. I can’t change the fact that I
have chronic pain, but I have changed my attitude about how
to live my best life with it.”
4
Years of Living with Pain
Stories of Changing Attitudes and Treatment
C O N T I N U E D F R O M P A G E 3 . . .
I can’t change the fact that I have chronic pain,
but I have changed my attitude about how to live my best life with it.
Rita-Marie Geary
| TOP |