APPLYING YOUR KNOWLEDGE
CRITICAL THINKING QUESTIONS
1.Develop nursing plans to help the following
patients deal with their grief.
a.A 22-year-old male athlete has his left leg
amputated after it was crushed in a car
accident.
b.You find a 30-year-old woman crying
softly in her bed after undergoing a
hysterectomy.
c.A 50-year-old woman has just been told she
has an inoperable brain tumor.
What knowledge and skills would you need to
meet their needs?
2.Think of a time when you lost someone dear
to you. How did you cope with your loss?
Were you aware of going through Engel’s six
stages of grief? How long did it take you to
resolve the loss and get back to normal life
activities? Interview some friends about
coping with losing a loved one, and compare
their experiences to yours. How can you use
this knowledge in your care of patients?REFLECTIVE PRACTICE USING CRITICAL
THINKING SKILLS
Use the following expanded scenario from
Chapter 43 in your textbook to answer the
questions below.
Scenario:Yvonne Malic, age 20, is admitted to
the hospital after her water broke, and labor
begins 7 weeks early. She delivers a female
infant who is immediately transported to the
neonatal intensive care unit. Yvonne is single
and desperately wants to be a mother. She
had a normal pregnancy up to this point and
was expecting a healthy baby girl. The nurse
informs Ms. Malic that her baby has less than
a 50% chance of surviving the next 24 hours.
Ms. Malic tearfully tells the nurse, “Leave me
alone!” and turns her body to face the wall.
1.How might the nurse react to Ms. Malic in a
manner that respects her right to privacy
while at the same time helping her through
the grief process?2.What would be a successful outcome for this
patient?3.What intellectual, technical, interpersonal,
and/or ethical/legal competencies are most
likely to bring about the desired outcome?4.What resources might be helpful for
Ms. Malic?PATIENT CARE STUDY
Read the following patient care study and use
your nursing process skills to answer the
questions on page 303.
Scenario:LeRoy is a 40-year-old architect
whose life partner, Michael, is dying of AIDS.
Although both LeRoy and Michael “did the
bathhouse scene” in the early 1980s and had
multiple unprotected sexual encounters, they
have been in a monogamous relationship for
the past 14 years. Michael has been in and out
of the hospital during the past 3 years and is
now dying of end-stage AIDS at home. He is
enrolled in a hospice program. LeRoy has been
very supportive of Michael throughout the dif-
ferent phases of his illness but at present
seems to be “losing it.” Michael noticed that
LeRoy is sleeping at odd times and seems to
be losing weight. He suspects that LeRoy
may be drinking more than usual and using
recreational drugs. He also says that LeRoy is
“acting strangely”; he seems emotionally with-
drawn and unusually uncommunicative. “I
don’t think he’s able to deal with the fact that
I’m dying,” Michael tells you. “He won’t let
me talk about it at all.” The hospice nurse
notes that LeRoy is now rarely home when he
comes to visit. When the hospice nurse calls302 UNIT VIII PROMOTING HEALTHY PSYCHOSOCIAL RESPONSES
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