Post a brief description of the situation you experienced and explain how incorporating or not incorporating patient preferences and values impacted the outcome of their treatment plan. Be specific and provide examples. Then, explain how including patient preferences and values might impact the trajectory of the situation and how these were reflected in the treatment plan. Finally, explain the value of the patient decision aid you selected and how it might contribute to effective decision making, both in general and in the experience you described. Describe how you might use this decision aid inventory in your professional practice or personal life.
Verifed Expert Answer
Patient Preferences and Decision-Making
Patients have values and beliefs which shape their views about health, illness and clinical care, and when seeing patients, clinicians have to keep this in mind. This is necessary and important when it comes to the delivery of the holistic care that meets the patient’s physiological and cultural needs. Providers meet diverse patients, and this may lead to a situation in which the beliefs they hold clash with the values of their patients.
Dealing with this kind of situation requires providers to get to know some aspects of the patient’s culture which may influence the treatment (Melnyk & Fineout-Overholt, 2018). The decision-support aid can help a clinician deal with culture related issues in a more effective manner. It is imperative to reflect on the significance of incorporating patient values in their care, and examine the decision-making aid in terms of benefits and mode of use.
Reflection on Personal Experience
I have experienced an incident in which I had to incorporate the cultural beliefs of my Sikh patient into their care. I specifically had to include prayers into the intervention plan because Sikhs value prayers, and praying is a religious norm. A Sikh may pray for healing, and this is why I had to include prayers into the treatment plan.
Besides, I followed the key principles of caring for the patient from the Sikh religion by providing them with truthful details about their health, and alleviating their suffering. By doing this, the patient became more comfortable with, and they became involved in making decisions on their own care (Kon et al., 2016). This also improved their cooperation which ultimately lead to improved patient care outcomes.
Impact of Incorporation of the Patient Values and Preferences on Situation’s Trajectory
The patient’s opinion and their values matter when it comes to managing their needs, and incorporating their preferences and values into the care plan can shape the trajectory of their care. Patients have experiences about their interaction with providers, and they also have values which affect the perspectives they have regarding treatment.
In this regard, their views may help the provider tailor intervention in a way that incorporates the views of the patient. When a provider does this, the patient discards the fear they might have about clinical care. This eases patient assessment, and the patient-provider interaction becomes more favorable (Schroy, Mylvaganam, & Davidson, 2014). This is noticeable in the treatment plan which define who treats the patient, and also the time for prayers.
The Benefit of the Decision-Support Tool
The selected decision-support aid presents benefits, and the tool, for instance can help a provider create an intervention plan that matches the needs of the patient. This can in turn help optimize the patient care outcomes, and result to their satisfaction. To use the decision support system, one to first gather details which show the clinical issue at hand, and compare these issues against the guidelines or directives outlined in the decision-support tool (Hoffman, Montori, & Del Mar, 2014). This makes it possible for the provider to address the clinical problems while guided by the tool.
Conclusion
In conclusion, a provider needs to utilize the decision-support aid to effectively incorporate the views of their patients into treatment. For the providers, integrating the ideas or cultural elements of the patient into the treatment plan can help optimize care, and improve the patient’s wellbeing. Thus, providers should leverage the decision aids so that they can help meet patients’ needs.
References
Hoffman, T. C., Montori, V. M., & Del Mar, C. (2014). The connection between evidence-based medicine and shared decision making. Journal of the American Medical Association, 312(13), 1295–1296. doi:10.1001/jama.2014.10186.
Kon, A. A., Davidson, J. E., Morrison, W., Danis, M., & White, D. B. (2016). Shared decision making in intensive care units: An American College of Critical Care Medicine and American Thoracic Society policy statement. Critical Care Medicine, 44(1), 188–201. doi:10.1097/CCM.0000000000001396.
Melnyk, B. M., & Fineout-Overholt, E. (2018). Evidence-based practice in nursing & healthcare: A guide to best practice (4th ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Wolters Kluwer.