critical thinking

must complete both 1 page for both items critical thinking response. two paragraphs a piece one page total.

CRITICAL THINKING ACTIVITY #2
A home care patient is experiencing pain secondary to surgery for head and neck cancer. She takes a liquid narcotic in suspension form.  Her doctor ordered 2 teaspoons q. 4 hrs,

PRN for pain and gave orders to the home health nurse to titrate the dose to the patients

pain level.  The nurse is to report on the patients pain level and response to the analgesics every week.  Given the patients condition and level of pain and previous response to analgesics, there is no fear of addiction in this patient.

The nurse has explained the treatment plan to the patient, and she concurs with the analgesia plan.  However, the patient will not measure the amount of medication she takes each time.  Every time the nurse visits, the patient reports that she takes a couple of swigs and that it relieves the pain.  She doesnt see the need to make a detailed record of her use of medication because the system she is using works.

Design a program that will be agreeable to this patient and still meet the nursing need of documenting episodes of pain and how much medication was needed for relief of pain.

You must consider your legal and ethical role as a nurse and the ideal of patient autonomy.

CRITICAL THINKING ACTIVITY #3
With the major emphasis in downsizing and restructuring health care to be financially successful, issues of quality nursing care come up frequently.  One common issue related to quality nursing care is medication errors.

In a downsized work environment, medication errors may increase due to limited staffing with licensed nursing personnel.  Often staffing is just enough to be adequate or slightly below what is necessary for safe and quality patient care.

You are a nursing supervisor, and you want to research a medication that was omitted during a change of shift period.  What questions are you going to ask?  Who will you look to for information?  How will I know if a medication error is a result of a nursing colleagues mistake or a result of an understaffed nursing unit?

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