Homework Topic 5 – Use of CAM in Patient Education – Solution

Use of CAM in Patient Education

Write a short (50-100-word) paragraph response for each question posed below. Submit this assignment as a Microsoft Word document.

1. Define CAM.
2. Describe the patient who uses CAM the most.
3. List some common misconceptions about CAM.
4. Identify methods of including the use of CAM in patient education.
5. Discuss the safe use of CAM.
6. List ways in which conventional medicine and CAM can be integrated.
7. Define ethical theories, ethical principles, and values.
8. Provide examples of ethical issues in patient education and compliance, and describe ways in which an effective professional/patient relationship and a poor health professional/patient relationship can impact these issues.
9. Explain what is meant by “ethical patient education practices”.
10. Explain the purpose of informed consent.
11. Discuss what factors determine the patient’s ability to give informed consent.
12. Compose a sample informed consent form. .
13. Discuss the process of communication to use with the patient and the family when obtaining informed consent.

Solution

1. Define CAM.

Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) is a type of treatment that is not included in standard medical care (Dew, 2021). CAM includes massage, acupuncture, and homeopathy, among other alternative treatment approaches.

CAM usage is classified into five categories: mind-body therapies like meditation and yoga; biologically-based practices like consumption of vitamins and dietary supplements; manipulative and body-based practices like reflexology; energy healing like therapeutic touch; and whole-body systems such as ayurvedic medications.

2. Describe the patient who uses CAM the Most.

Dew (2021) explains that the characteristics of patients who use CAM the most include middle-aged (35-45) and highly educated and high-income individuals, primarily females. Also, such individuals are likely to have underlying medical conditions such as arthritis, anxiety, or depression. They prefer CAM to improve their conditions, primarily due to side effects associated with conventional treatment processes.

3. List some Common Misconceptions about CAM.

The misconceptions about CAM include the belief that CAM is the only alternative medication that cant be used as the first choice during treatment (Dew, 2021). Also, some say that holistic medications are not regarded as mainstream medications.

Another misconception is that natural doctors do not include conventional medications when treating patients. Some also believe that CAM professionals are less educated, meaning they provide less informed treatment to patients. Lastly, some believe CAM is ineffective due to a lack of proven scientific evidence to support its effectiveness.

4. Identify methods of including the use of CAM in Patient Education.

Educating patients about their use of CAM is sometimes challenging, owing to a lack of awareness of the science behind its use (Dew, 2021). To introduce it in patient education, the physician needs to ask the patient if they are using herbs as a formal part of assessing their medical history.

Then, explain the science behind conventional medication and CAM to allow the patient to open up about their prior experience with it. Dew (2021) illustrates that they should also take a patient-centered approach by compromising and negotiating with them. This allows the patient to contemplate the advice given, may be receptive, and avoid including CAM before conventional procedures like surgery.

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5. Discuss the safe use of CAM.

Safe use of CAM is dependent on the type of therapy applied, meaning that users should consider each medication on its own to avoid safety concerns related to drug interactions and contamination (Dew, 2021). In this case, physicians should discuss with the patient the potential toxicity of herbal medicine.

It occurs mainly when they are accompanied by conventional medications, resulting in toxic reactions due to an overdose of potential medicinal elements in both medications. Dew (2021) also explains that patients must seek reliable information about CAM before commencing its use. Some professionals, such as the elderly, might have inherited the talent from prior generations.

6. List ways in which conventional medicine and CAM can be integrated.

Conventional medicine and CAM are integrated into most situations to help relieve individuals of some ailments and decrease dependency on medications (Dew, 2021). For instance, they can be integrated during blood pressure management by combining hypnosis, dietary modifications, and medications.

Additionally, they are integrated to relieve low-back pains by combining opiates and acupuncture (Dew, 2021). Also, it is used to reduce the side effects of chemotherapy by combining acupuncture and anti-emetics.

Combining bupropion and hypnosis helps in smoking cessation. Lastly, patients use feverfew and another beta-blocker to relieve their severe migraine. These approaches enhance patient and provider satisfaction by expediting their relief.

7. Define Ethical Theories, Ethical Principles, and Values.

Ethical theories are ideas and suppositions used in informing individual actions and beliefs based on their moral decisions in daily activities. Pozgar (2019) observes that they explain practitioners’ decision-making in healthcare settings and include utilitarianism, deontology, virtue ethics, and principalism. Consequently, Pozgar (2019) illustrates that ethical principles are derived from normative theory to justify moral rules or judgments.

These principles in health practice are independent of practitioners’ subjective views and only constitute their moral judgments to defend ethical prescriptions and evaluations of health care services (Pozgar, 2019). They include beneficence, nonmaleficence, autonomy, informed consent, and justice. On the other hand, values refer to individual attributes that determine their actions.

Health care practitioners have compassion, honesty, integrity, ethical practice, commitment to excellence, and respect for other people.

8. Provide examples of ethical issues in patient education and compliance, and describe how an effective professional/patient relationship and a poor health professional/patient relationship can impact these issues.

Ethical issues arise during interactions between patients, nurses, and patient’s families. These issues may negatively affect patient education (Pozgar, 2019). They include misunderstandings about informed consent, disagreements concerning treatment goals, power differences in decision-making between health practitioners, patients, and their families, disparities in access to healthcare, and conflicts about truth-telling.

Notably, a positive nurse-patient relationship can increase the satisfaction of involved parties, increase trust and ensure the provision of knowledgeable and timely feedback, increase response to patients’ unmet needs, and nurture hope and faith in the treatment process (Pozgar, 2019). On the other hand, poor nurse-patient relationships may deteriorate the ethical issues, leading to frustrations for the involved parties.

It may force the health professionals to lose compassion and empathy when caring for the patients, resulting in poor patient safety and quality of care. Additionally, it could lead to termination of continuation of care, patient dissatisfaction, poor patient outcomes, and wastage of resources.

9. Explain what is meant by “Ethical Patient Education Practices.”

Ethical patient education practices involve providing reliable information to patients to help improve their health outcomes (Pozgar, 2019). The nurses must ensure transparency and reflectivity of their actions when providing patient education by adopting evidence-based practices to facilitate patient decision-making.

These ethical practices emphasize the need for nurses to collaborate with the patient and ensure the implementation of a patient-centered model of care. According to Pozgar (2019), providing patients with reliable, efficient, and sufficient information improves their treatment adherence by making it easy for them to understand the importance of maintaining the health behavior changes suggested by physicians.

10. Explain the purpose of Informed Consent.

It is a process through which health care providers educate patients or their families about various aspects of a treatment procedure, such as its risks, benefits, and available alternatives (Vansweevelt & Glover-Thomas, 2020). Patients have legal and ethical rights to be educated on what happens to their bodies during the treatment process.

As a result, Kompanje et al. (2020) illustrate that an informed Consent Form (ICF) is an essential requirement in health care provisions, such as patient treatment, dissemination of patient information, during surgery, and blood transfusions, and anesthesia. It is also used during human clinical studies, such as those involving the testing of drugs or vaccines.

In this case, patients sharing decisions with the practitioners or researchers help them weigh the benefits and harms associated with invasive procedures, including alternatives explicitly aimed at reducing potential patient harm.

11. Discuss what factors determine the patient’s ability to give informed consent.

The ICF recognizes the patient’s autonomy in decision-making. However, Vansweevelt and Glover-Thomas (2020) observe that their decision-making ability is determined by various factors, such as the patient’s competency in decision-making.

In cases where the patient is a child (under 17 years) and cannot make competent decisions, their parents or guardians are obligated to make decisions on their behalf. Another factor is the patient’s mental status, whereby patients with questionable mental status cannot make informed decisions. In this case, a surrogate decision-maker is authorized to speak on their behalf.

12. Compose a Sample Informed Consent Form.

Name of Patient__XXX___________                                        

Signature ________J.W.___________

Date ______________30-June-2022_____________

 I agree to the surgery to remove a tumor in my brain. I am aware of the procedure involved, including the risks and benefits.

Name of witness_XXX________                       Thumb print of participant

Signature of witness    _SHS____________

Date ____30-June-2022____________________

Statement by the Nurse/person Taking Consent

I have extensively elaborated to the patient every aspect of the surgery;

1. A CT scan will be done to identify the exact position of the tumor.
2. 2. A lidocaine-epinephrine anesthesia will be administered prior to the procedure.
3. 3. An incision will be made through your skull to pave the way for removing the tumor.
4. 4. Afterwards, the incision will be closed, and you will be accommodated at the hospital for 1 month.

I confirm that the patient was educated on everything related to the procedure. I confirm that the patient voluntarily signed the consent form.

Name of Nurse_XXX_______________                                             

Signature of Nurse _________________________

Date __30-June-2022_________________________                            

Day/month/year

13. Discuss the communication process to use with the patient and the family when obtaining informed consent.

Giving informed consent should be voluntary, and the patient can quickly withdraw it. Vansweevelt and Glover-Thomas (2020) explain that communicating to patients about the consent process is necessary and can effectively be done by providing procedure-specific forms to the patient or their family.

A practitioner should then discuss the contents with the parties, emphasizing serious risks and those with the likelihood of occurring. Kompanje et al. (2020) explain that they should show compassion and transparency and be truthful with the patient about the informed consent details.

It includes providing moral support to encourage and reduce anxiety among patients and their families about what they are consenting. The practitioner should personalize the form by including the specific issues discussed with the patient. This would indicate evidence of a thorough discussion with the patient. Afterward, the patient can consent or decline the treatment procedure depending on their perception of the risks involved.

References

Dew, K. (2021). Complementary and alternative medicine: Containing and expanding therapeutic possibilities. Abingdon, Oxon; New York, NY: Routledge

Kompanje, E. J., van Dijck, J. T., Chalos, V., van den Berg, S. A., Janssen, P. M., Nederkoorn, P. J., … & Peul, W. C. (2020). Informed consent procedures for emergency interventional research in patients with traumatic brain injury and ischaemic stroke. The Lancet Neurology, 19(12), 1033-1042.

Pozgar, G. E. O. R. G. E. D. (2019). Legal & ethical issues for health professionals. (5th ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Vansweevelt, T., & Glover-Thomas, N. (2020). Informed consent and health: A global analysis. (pp. 1010-122). Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited