national healthcare decision day
my current role as a nurse does not look like what most would imagine. i am no longer studying pediatric cancer research protocols, chasing kiddos racing the hallways on their IV poles, treating critically ill patients with every possible treatment available, urgently transferring a patient to the ICU, running lab work to the lab, sprinting to the blood bank to pick up a vital bag of precious blood to transfuse, arranging make-a-wish trips, making rounds with attending doctors and residents and medical students, calling CODES, throwing parties for “end of treatment” days, and even wheeling a deceased patient to the morgue…well, i guess that image isn’t what anyone would imagine. looking back at the early chapters of my career reminds me that i wear many hats as a nurse. typical doesn’t exist. i am now a hospice nurse. talk about atypical! each day brings new blessings and unknowns as i enter a home or facility to visit with patients. though, some things have remained constant; i hold hands, i share tears, i advocate and i empathize.
school couldn’t have fully prepared me for what my eyes would see or my heart would feel. and because of that, i am forever grateful for the many patients and families and colleagues along the way that taught me, whether they knew it or not, the vital pieces that helped to put together the puzzle. healthcare is just that, a puzzle, well, more like a map with detours and roadblocks and ever changing challenges. that is why, as an individual, a loved one, a friend, a son/daughter, a parent, we do have the opportunity to do our part to help clarify one piece of that puzzle. just as many new expectant parents tirelessly work on their “birth plan,” we have the choice to construct our own “death plan.” now whether or not the birth or death pans out the way we would hope is not up to us but there is peace in knowing that difficult decisions and conversations have already been discussed. giving our loved ones the space and permission to discuss end of life topics is a gift and can be a freeing opportunity. discussing death and making healthcare decisions won’t prevent a nurse from wheeling that patient to the morgue or the hospice nurse from calling the funeral home to pick up a patient from their home, but having those decisions in place, or at least the dialog open, will lighten the burden tremendously during those stormy seasons of life.
this week is national healthcare decision awareness. talk to your family, your spouse, your children, your parents, your friends and examine your own wishes.
“The National Healthcare Decisions Day, April 16, will help Americans understand that making future healthcare decisions includes much more than deciding what care they would or would not want; it starts with expressing preferences, clarifying values, identifying care preferences and selecting an agent to express healthcare decisions if patients are unable to speak for themselves. The National Healthcare Decisions Day (NHDD) initiative is a collaborative effort of national, state and community organizations committed to ensuring that all adults with decision-making capacity in the United States have the information and opportunity to communicate and document their healthcare decisions.” (www.nhdd.org)
learn more and find important resources HERE.
