35223 Medical Ethics: End-of-Life Issues

Course overview

Discussion about medical ethics surrounding end-of-life care. Topics include common issues that may arise at the end of life that can create ethical dilemmas; the relationship between a patient's expressed preferences and quality end-of-life care; and ethical principles that should be considered during end-of-life care. There is also a discussion about how implicit bias may impact healthcare. The goal of end-of-life care for dying patients is to prevent or relieve suffering as much as possible, while also respecting the patient's desires and wishes at the same time. However, there are often ethical challenges that the healthcare team may face in end-of-life care, often involving not only the patient, but family members and other loved ones. The main situations that create ethical difficulties for healthcare professionals are the decisions regarding resuscitation, mechanical ventilation, artificial nutrition and hydration, terminal sedation, withholding and withdrawing treatments, euthanasia, and physician-assisted suicide. Understanding the principles underlying biomedical ethics is important for nurses and other members of the healthcare team in order to help navigate issues that commonly occur in end-of-life care.