4HW031 Research Awareness for Healthcare Professionals
Respect and Dignity Report Introduction According to SCIE (2013), dignity is often associated with respect, privacy, control, and autonomy. It is a very controversial topic because the understanding of dignity varies from one person to another. The Royal college of nursing defined dignity as the way in which individuals feel, think, and behave regarding how much self-worth and value they feel about themselves or others (RCN, 2008). Respect is when other people acknowledge that you have a sense of worth (SCIE, 2012). Dignity is a fundamental value in health care, and it is highly valued by patients. However, dignity can sometimes be compromised by health care professionals by not clearly informing patients in a way that they understand, disclosing information about a diagnosis, or denying them choices. NMC (2015) states that a registered nurse should understand and respect the decision made by the patient regarding their treatment and that health professionals must ensure that a competent person is fully informed about alternative treatments, risks, and benefits of the treatment.
When dignity is presented, people feel valued, respected, and able to make choices, however, when dignity is compromised, individuals feel degraded and humiliated, and unable to make choices (RCN, 2008). There is evidence that patients are not always treated with dignity, for example in countries like Japan, doctors have no legal obligation to inform terminally ill patients of diagnosis, it is a norm for doctors to inform the patient's family of the diagnosis without communicating with the patient, the family might decide against informing the patient (Masaki et al 2014). Denying patients the right to make informed choices is not treating them with dignity.
Interest in this topic led me to carry out a search for articles related to respect and dignity. By searching this topic, I wanted to understand the factors that influence the end of life decisions for individuals with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), this will enable me to gain insight into how to best support the patient and their families through a critical time, According to world health organisation WHO, ( 2015) insufficient training and lack of understanding of palliative care amongst health professionals is a major obstacle in improving access. This search will provide me with search skills and knowledge to help me deliver the highest quality care that is person-centred, evidence-based, and presented with dignity and respect.
ALS is often called motor neuron disease (MND), It is a terminal disorder which affects the nervous system resulting in rapid limb paralysis, failure in respiratory as well as bulbar muscles and in some situations could lead to frontotemporal dementia (Foley et. al. 2014). Being diagnosed with ALS can have an overwhelming effect to a patient, it is important that choices about their care planning is put in place whi...
