Exam 15: Loss, Grief, the Dying Patient, and Palliative Care

When the parents of a child who is on life support ask what indicates brain death, the nurse responds that brain death occurs when:

When a patient chooses to die by refusing treatment that would prolong life, it is called _________________.

A terminal patient in a skilled nursing home has stated that he does not want to get out of bed, because he is too tired and weak to sit in a chair. He sleeps on and off all day and night, his position is changed every 2 hours, and he is comfortable on his pain regimen. The next day the nurse will:

After a patient death, the nurse is preparing to perform postmortem care. The body is placed supine with the head raised so that:

The nurse who adopts the Maciejewski theory of grief assesses for the reduction of grief after a period of ________ months.

Place the steps of postmortem care in their proper sequence. (Separate letters with a comma and space as follows: A, B, C, D, E.)

When the patient says, "I can die happily if I can live long enough to see my first grandchild that will be born next month." The nurse assesses that this patient is experiencing Kübler-Ross's stage of:

The family members of a young man, who is in the intensive care unit on life support after suffering irreversible brain damage resulting from a motorcycle accident, have been approached by the organ transplant team to consider organ donation. When they ask the nurse about this process, the nurse's best response would be:

A patient who was admitted to hospice for comfort care of end-stage respiratory disease is asked what his hope is for his remaining life. He says, "I'm hoping for a miracle-that I will wake up one of these mornings and be able to breathe like when I was 20." The nurse would best respond:

Individuals move through the stages of grief at their own pace. When a person is "stuck" in a stage and cannot move forward, this is called _______________.

A hospice patient is unable to tolerate food or fluids and has advance directives that indicate that he does not want IV fluids or tube feedings if he is unable to take oral feedings. His family is concerned that he will be very uncomfortable without food or fluids. The nurse should tell them that:

A terminally ill patient is angry and belligerent. He yells at the nurses and his family for not coming quickly enough when he calls, and he states that he isn't receiving the care he needs. The nurse's most informative response would be:

The nurse discusses the grief theory of Maciejewski, which outlines the stages of grief as including: (Select all that apply.)