Casebook on Ethical Decision-Making in End-of-Life Care of Older Adults “Casebook on Ethical Decision-Making in End-of-Life Care of Older Adults” is launched to provide an open-access online resource for doctors, nurses, social workers and allied health professionals who face ethical issues when caring for older adults at the end-of-life.This project is supported by The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust’s “Jockey Club End-of-Life Community Care Project” (JCECC) and developed in collaboration with the CUHK Centre for Bioethics. For access, please go to CUHK Jockey Club Institute of Ageing (IOA) Website by clicking here. |
|
| Do End-of-Life Care Social Workers Need to Enhance Cultural Competence
|
|
| Dignified Care
|
|
| International Community Palliative Care Interventions for COPD Patients
|
|
Pain Assessment and Management Pain is a common experience for chronically ill patients and elderly people as they approach the end of life (Gibson & Lussier, 2012; Wajnberg et al., 2013). Pain is often part of the multiple symptoms and side effects that a person may experience at the end of life, or caused by other reasons such as injuries or falls. In the United States, for example, it was estimated that …Read More |
|
| Dignity in the Chinese Context
|
As the US is a multicultural society, it can be challenging for end-of-life care social workers to apprehend the variety of cultural backgrounds and needs of their patients and their family members. Therefore, the National Association of Social Work in the US raised the end of life cultural competence issue in …
Over the past few months, media has revealed several incidents with senior citizens not being treated in proper ways. For example, elderly residents were left naked while awaiting their bath, they were being neglected, and there were even instances where they were being scold and hit because they were …
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is a serious long-term condition, in which the flow of air into the lungs is gradually reduced by inflammation of the air passages, and damage to the tissue in the lungs. COPD is a general term for a group of conditions, of which Chronic Bronchitis and Emphysema are most common. The disease is …
It stands to reason that a concept like dignity will be influenced by socio-cultural context and practices. How would the people in Hong Kong, a city with its unique cultural characteristic of East meets West, understand a concept like dignity? Will there be any differences compared with …
If a close family member or friend is diagnosed with advanced illnesses, and he/she may only have a few months to live, this does not mean you won’t be able to have fun together, or that it is impossible to share any more beautiful moments in life. …
The recently released ranking of 2015 Quality of Death Index1 , which reflects the quality of palliative care worldwide, shall help heighten public awareness of the importance of quality endof-life care (EoLC). Especially with Hong Kong ranking 22nd among the other 79 countries, despite being an international metropolitan. Accompanied by the inevitable trend of an aging population, it is about time that …
Certain topics are hard to address in our conversations with children. One of them is the story about “the birds and the bees”, or rather, where babies come from. A second major topic of life involves the other side of that story—when the birds and the bees stop flying and buzzing, or, what happens when somebody dies. Death is …
Massage techniques (for example, acupressure, reiki, deep tissue massage or shiatsu1) involve working with pressure on various areas of the body, in order to improve health and well-being. In the second century B.C., massage therapy was already described in China, and soon thereafter in India and Egypt as well (Field, 1998). This makes massage one of the oldest healing methods. Today, the effects of massage are …
A recent news reported the story of Mr. Ng, who is a 75-year-old elderly man passing away before an arranged outdoor visit to fulfill his last wishes. Mr. Ng had been living in a local elderly home for years. After failing onto the floor and hurt his neck accidentally 3 years ago, the lonely old man had never gotten a chance to …
故事主人翁陳念心婆婆，大家都稱她為心心，即使年過九旬，與患上心臟衰竭，個性樂觀的她總是說—「我好滿足於自己的人生」。心心婆婆有一兒二女，但隨著丈夫和兒子先後離世，她一度陷入精神困擾。她說慶幸有醫生、護士和社工，以及兩個對自己無微不至的孝順女兒，幫助她走出情緒深谷。即使她現在行動不便，視力下降和身體衰弱，心心婆婆依然心存感恩。然而，心心婆婆自患上晚期病後 …
Most end-of-life patients inevitably rely on the physical care from their caregivers due to the decline of their functional ability. While caregivers strive to provide the best care they can in order to maintain the comfort and quality of life of the patients, the patients themselves may feel worried that they are a burden to others, which in turn undermines …
For people suffering from COPD 1 the quote above will sound all-too-familiar, as dyspnea, or breathlessness, is a common symptom experienced by COPD patients. Being short of breath is an unpleasant, scary feeling that can impact daily activities tremendously. People who are experiencing shortness of breath are …
Taking care of a loved one who is suffering from a terminal illness is never easy. Not only are the chores of caregiving time-consuming, demanding, and exhausting, caregivers also tend to experience a repertoire of negative emotions. Anger, frustration, depression, helplessness, sadness, anxiety, agitation, loneliness, isolation and more are …
If “it takes a village to raise a child”, why don’t we also take a village to care for the dying members of the community? Community engagement is highlighted in Professor Allan Kellehear’s health-promoting end-of-life care and epitomized in …
When Kees Veldboer was working as an ambulance driver, he had to transport Mario, a patient who was under palliative care. Mario had been a shipper all his life and he conveyed that he would give anything to see the water and Rotterdam harbour one last time. This story and wish touched Kees’ heart and so he …
For years, society has taught us about life, how we can live it well, and what we can do with our time here on earth. Rarely, however, do we discuss the end of life. Phillipe Ariès, a French historian, wrote a landmark book that placed death at the centre of discussion. Entitled, Western attitudes toward death, the book describes …
In life, we plan and prepare for many things. Our education, career, and summer holidays are sources of continual preoccupation. When it comes to our wishes for what will happen at the end of our lives, however, many of us are woefully unprepared, even in spite of opinions about the importance of such planning …
We all know how precious life is, and we can all feel for family members who lose a loved one, or perhaps, we know how painful it is to lose a loved one ourself. Those who have experienced being with somebody at the end of their life, will recognize that …
There were rumors that the government of Hong Kong would like to raise the cremation charge of the crematoria operated by the Food and Environment Hygiene Department (FEHD), from the current HKD1,220 to, eventually, HKD6,560 per case. This increase in cremation charges could …
For people suffering from advanced cancer or another terminal illness, the plethora of medical terms related to prognosis or treatment options, can feel really overwhelming. No matter how prepared someone feels for these type of conversations, or how well the disease and prognosis is understood. Living with an advanced illness is …
