Terminally Ill Patients' and End of Life Care: A Multidisciplinary Concept Analysis
Jennifer Thompson
UTA
Analysis of Theories in Nursing
Nurs 5327
Ronda Mintz-Binder, RN, MSN, DNP
April 19, 2014

Terminally Ill Patients' and End of Life Care: A Multidisciplinary Concept Analysis
With an aging population in our country we are facing an increasing number of patients’ that are coming to the end of their lives and are presenting with terminal illness. As life expectancy increases we are seeing more and more patent that are 65 year old and older in need of end of life care. Research and medical developments have provided a vast array of treatment options available to our patients’. After patients’ have exhausted all available treatment options for their disease processes they face the reality that their life is coming to an end. Patients’ near the end choose between quality of life over quantity of life. One service available to terminal patients’ is hospice care which offers palliative care to patients’ at the end of life. Health care providers must be able to face and appropriately care for patients’ with terminal illness and end of life care. At times it may be difficult for health care providers to face or present the truth to a patient that further treatment is futile and end of life care would be appropriate. Advanced practice nurses’ will face terminal illness and it is required of them to be able to sufficiently treat, manage, and discuss end of life care with these patients. It is necessary for practitioners to establish understanding and acceptance of end of life care. It is necessary to analyze terminal illness, end of life care, and treatment options available to our patients’ due to the ever growing prevalence of our aging population.
Review of Literature

Upon reviewing available literature regarding terminal illness and end of life care there