What comes to mind when Guwande outlined the Three Plagues of nursing home existence: boredom, loneliness and helplessness?

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  1. ultural Perspectives on Death Systems

This question serves as a minor antecedent activity to your capstone research/problem paper whereby you are asked to write the literature review portion of a research/problem paper “exploring the death and dying rituals, practices, burial methods, and beliefs about the afterlife for a culture other than the Anglo-American culture.”

In this WK3 activity, you will explore your own family’s culture regarding death practices and death systems – from your own heritage (ex. Jamaica, Hawaii, Japan, Korea, China, Spain, Mexico, Cuba, France, Africa, a specific Native American tribe, etc.). Although death comes for every culture around the world, each one has its own unique rituals and memorials for their loved ones. In at least one robust paragraph, describe the beliefs and traditions about death, rituals for burial, funerals and ceremonies, grieving practices, music, dance, etc. for your ancestral culture; and in one paragraph describe the death systems of your family culture – certifications, notifications, autopsies, capital punishment, suicide, homicide, organ transplantation and donation…

This website may serve to get you started:

https://dying.lovetoknow.com/Category:Death_in_Cultures_Around_the_World

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  1. Healthcare and End-of-Life Issues
  2. In one robust paragraph, compare and contrast Hospice vs. Nonhospice palliative care:

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  1. Complete the chart below with the reality that contradicts the myth provided:

Death and Dying Myths

Emerging Reality in America

You will become more afraid of death as you grow toward old age and your death becomes more imminent.

Terminal patients go through predictable stages as they approach death.

A sudden or unexpected death has more adverse effects on the survivors than does a death that is expected.

Older men are likely to die at home, and older women are more likely to die in institutional settings such as hospitals and nursing homes.

Among those adults whose spouses die, elderly widows and widowers are much more likely to die themselves a short time later.

Hospice utilizes morphine to euthanize people.

Being Mortal Chs. 5 AND 6 (Provide brief responses to the questions below)

  • What comes to mind when Guwande outlined the Three Plagues of nursing home existence: boredom, loneliness and helplessness?
  • In the story of Sarah and Rich Monopoli, Sara underwent excruciating treatment right to the end. What attitudes and approaches used by this couple do you admire, or agree with, and with which do you disagree? If you were Sara’s doctors, what would you do differently? As a family member or close friend, what conversation would you have with them, or should you just “mind your own business”?  What were the tradeoffs of Sara’s continued treatments? What did it buy her?
  • Dr. Gawande quotes statistics that show 25% of Medicare spending goes to the 5% of patients in the last stages of life. How should priorities be set? With catastrophic illness, the trend seems to indicate high costs during the onset of the illness, a leveling off of costs during the mid-stages, and skyrocketing costs during the last stages of life. Yet, the extreme or even experimental measures do not always improve the quality of life, or even prolong life. How can we avoid ICUs that turn out to be, as one doctor commented, “a warehouse for the dying”?
  • Why did the addition of animals trigger so many improvements among residents?
  • Nurse Creed is a hospice nurse, skilled in her profession. Summarize her strategies as she spoke with her families. Do you agree with her apparent priorities? What personal traits do you think contribute to someone choosing and being successful at this nursing specialty?

Questions derived from the following site:

http://www.transforminghealth.org/stories/Being%20Mortal%20discussion%20questions.pdf