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Ethical issues concerning cardiac surgery in elderly patients — the nurse’s role as a patient advocate: A case report
, 1, 2, 3
Affiliations- Wroclaw Medical University, Wroclaw, Poland
- Cantonal Hospital Baselland, Liestal, Switzerland
- Warsaw Medical University, Warsaw, Poland
open access
Abstract
Introduction: Frailty syndrome (FS) is one of the well-known risk factors for cardiac surgical treatment. Moreover, older patients are more likely to suffer from various comorbidities. Ethical issues that arise in patient care should be considered, including their identification, analysis, and appropriate resolution. The study aimed to present the nurse’s role in the therapeutic team, which should take the floor as a patient
advocate representing her/his interest.
Case presentation: An 82-year-old patient was admitted to the Cardiac Surgery Clinic and was discussed in the context of emerging ethical dilemmas in clinical practice. The peri-operative risk was assessed as high; the nurse identified both frailty phenotype and FS. Currently, at postoperative day 40, the patient remains sedated, haemodynamically unstable, and has a poor long-term prognosis.
Summary: If the patient is not presented with a risk assessment that includes FS assessment during the qualification process, it can be concluded that this omission violates the information component of informed consent. Nurses must speak out in those patients’ interests in order to preclude actions that may increase their vulnerability during cardiac surgery.
Abstract
Introduction: Frailty syndrome (FS) is one of the well-known risk factors for cardiac surgical treatment. Moreover, older patients are more likely to suffer from various comorbidities. Ethical issues that arise in patient care should be considered, including their identification, analysis, and appropriate resolution. The study aimed to present the nurse’s role in the therapeutic team, which should take the floor as a patient
advocate representing her/his interest.
Case presentation: An 82-year-old patient was admitted to the Cardiac Surgery Clinic and was discussed in the context of emerging ethical dilemmas in clinical practice. The peri-operative risk was assessed as high; the nurse identified both frailty phenotype and FS. Currently, at postoperative day 40, the patient remains sedated, haemodynamically unstable, and has a poor long-term prognosis.
Summary: If the patient is not presented with a risk assessment that includes FS assessment during the qualification process, it can be concluded that this omission violates the information component of informed consent. Nurses must speak out in those patients’ interests in order to preclude actions that may increase their vulnerability during cardiac surgery.
Keywords
cardiac surgery, frailty syndrome, patient advocacy, case report
About this articleTitle
Ethical issues concerning cardiac surgery in elderly patients — the nurse’s role as a patient advocate: A case report
Journal
Issue
Article type
Case report
Pages
120-125
Published online
2020-05-14
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968
Article views/downloads
1455
DOI
Bibliographic record
Medical Research Journal 2020;5(2):120-125.
Keywords
cardiac surgery
frailty syndrome
patient advocacy
case report
Authors
Marta Wleklik
Izabella Uchmanowicz
Piotr Sobański
Tomasz Pasierski
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