Case Studies
Please Note: All case studies are intended to be generic so that substitutions can be made, according to your own clinical roles. Feel free to adjust the case studies so they are relevant to your participant’s clinical needs.
Module 1
Case Study #1
Mr. S.: “I Want Everything Done Until My Last Breath”
The palliative care consult team was called to make recommendations to the medical hospitalist and nursing staff to improve symptom management for Mr. S.Mr. S. is a 75-year-old African American male admitted to the medical floor with severe shortness of breath and fatigue related to his end-stage heart failure. He is a disabled auto worker, is married, and lives with his wife in a one story apartment.He has had 3 admissions for heart failure in the past 4 months.
On seeing the patient, the team was aware that in addition to symptom management, there was a need for psychological, social, and spiritual support.The patient reported that he was afraid to die because he was worried about how his family would manage financially without his disability income.He did not want to talk about hospice as an option for care and stated, “I want everything done until my last breath of life.”The palliative care team, composed of the nurse practitioner, physician, social worker and chaplain, provided symptom management, emotional and spiritual support to Mr. S. and his spouse, and revisited the subject of “advance care planning.” (Mr. S. has been adamant about not wanting to talk about hospice, palliative care.He only wants his care team to talk about how he can improve and get better).
Discussion Questions:
- What assessments are essential in providing quality palliative care as a consult team?
- How does the team revisit the topic of advance care planning?
- What interventions are critical to initiate at the initial consult visit?
Module 1
Case Study #2
Mrs. M.:Poor Pain Management
The Palliative Care Program of the Hospice of the Lake offers a consult service using advanced practice nurses (APNs).A referral is made from a local long-term care facility for help with a patient who is receiving dialysis for chronic renal failure and is suffering with poorly controlled pain.The facility’s physician is reluctant to order pain medication because of Mrs. M.’s renal status.The patient, the patient’s family, and the nursing staff are very distressed by the lack of pain management.
Discussion Questions:
- What is the role of the APN from the palliative care program in addressing Mrs. M.’s pain?
- What strategies might the APN use in conversation with the facility physician to advocate for Mrs. M. to receive better pain management?
- What additional referrals may be necessary for the patient, family, and staff?
- Once the APN and physician have agreed on a pain management program for Mrs. M., what other long-term palliative care needs might the APN be thinking of?
Module 1
Case Study #3
Ms. T.:Need for Palliative Care at the Time of Diagnosis
The Cancer Center’s Palliative Care Team, comprised of a nursing director of palliative care, nurse practitioner, social worker, and spiritual care counselor who integrate into the oncologist’s practice, met with Ms. T. following her first office visit for newly diagnosed pancreatic cancer.Ms. T. is 70-years-old, is a retired school teacher, lives alone, and her only family is a son who lives out-of-state.
Discussion Questions:
- At the team’s first visit, Ms. T. says,“What do I need a team like this for?I am here at the cancer center to be cured?”How does the team introduce the concept of palliative care to a patient with newly diagnosed advanced stage cancer?
- How does the team provide care to the patient and her son?
Case continues:
The team follows Ms. T. throughout the course of treatment, seeing her at doctor visits, chemotherapy treatments, and radiation therapy.It has been 8 months, and the disease has progressed to the point that chemotherapy is no longer an option.
Discussion Question:
- When is the appropriate time to introduce the concept of hospice care?How can the team explain this type of care to Ms. T.?
Module 1
Case Study #4
Mr. J.:Shifting from Treatment to Palliative Care
Mr. J. has been a patient in the medical intensive care unit (MICU) for the past four days.He is an 86-year-old male with a two-year history of dementia and newly diagnosed small cell lung cancer, with metastasis to the femur.When he came into the emergency department with shortness of breath, his respiratory status became so compromised that he required intubation and was admitted to the MICU.Although he is no longer on the ventilator, he has become increasingly confused and agitated. His non-verbal behaviors suggest he is in pain. His daughter, who is the power of attorney for health-care, has requested that the goals of care shift from a plan for chemotherapy, to keeping him comfortable.The nursing staff and clinical nurse specialist in the MICU are suggesting Mr. J. be transferred to the Palliative Care Unit in the hospital.
Discussion Questions:
- What are the benefits of a transfer to the palliative care unit for this patient and his daughter?
- What are the potential barriers that may interfere with the palliative care referral for this patient?
- What strategies might be helpful to overcome those barriers?
Module 1
Case Study #5
Mike:What’s the Point?
Mike, a 40-year-old former injectable drug user, was diagnosed with AIDS two years ago. He is admitted to the medical unit for nutritional support and abdominal pain. Three months ago, he moved from his apartment to a nursing home facility because of increasing weakness and inability to care for himself. Mike has been unemployed for six years.As the nurse takes the nursing history, Mike appears anxious. He is unshaven. His hair is uncombed, and his nails are dirty. The nursing home staff reported that he repeatedly refuses to bathe. He answers questions without making eye contact, frequently commenting “What’s the point?”Mike is divorced and has one teenage daughter, who lives with her mother. He has not seen his daughter, because he doesn’t want her to see him “like this.” Other family includes an older sister, who helped him move to the nursing home. Mike relates that he no longer sees friends, because he did not tell them he was moving to the nursing home facility, and doesn’t want them to know that he is living there.When the nurse has finished taking the history, he asks her to pull the curtains, shut the door, and leave him alone. When she returns to give Mike his medications, he screams,“I thought I told you to leave me alone!”
Discussion Questions:
- Assess aspects of the quality of life (QOL) using the model of physical, psychological, social, and spiritual well-being.
- What members of the interdisciplinary team might be most helpful to contact? Why?
- What other information would be helpful to assess quality of life at the end of life and in planning care for Mike?How are these quality-of-life dimensions interrelated?
- Discuss the unique role of nursing in caring for Mike.Discuss collaboration with Mike’s physician.
- What other information would be helpful to assess in planning care for Mike?
- How do you create a safe environment for Mike?
Module 1
Case Study #6
Mrs. Jones: Could Palliative Care be Relevant?
Ms. Jones is a 78-year-old African American woman who lives with her daughter and is enrolled in an adult day program for patients with dementia. Ms. Jones is unable to ambulate, but can be transferred from bed to chair and is transported to the day program via wheelchair. She is unable to complete any activities of daily living, and utters groaning sounds, but is unable to speak; she continues to be able to eat a pureed diet with full assistance. Her co-morbidities include hypertension, heart failure, chronic renal failure, and anemia, requiring two units of red blood cells monthly to manage shortness of breath.
Her daughter, Ms. Carey, is a 62-year-old retired school teacher who states that, “taking care of mama is the most important thing I do in my life. She took care of her own mother who lived to be 104.” Ms. Carey has no siblings and her only son died of a heart attack at age 39. She suffers from osteoarthritis of the knees and spine, type II diabetes, hypertension, and most recently severe trigeminal neuralgia from shingles. She gets some caregiver respite, when her mother is at the day care from 9am-3 pm, but is up every two hours at night responding to her mother’s frequent crying out and restlessness. She describes herself as a religious woman, but is unable to get to her community church on Sundays, because she must care for her mother.
Discussion Questions:
- Is Ms. Jones an appropriate candidate for palliative care? For hospice?
- How could palliative care services benefit Ms. Jones and her daughter?
- What might be potential barriers to transitioning this patient to palliative care?
- What strategies would you consider to address these barriers?
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ELNEC-Core CurriculumModule 1: Palliative Nursing CarePage M1-1
© COH & AACN, 2007Case Studies
Revised: June 2016