End-of-Life Care and Palliative Nursing Flashcards
6 cards from real Gerontological Nurse Test practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 6 End-of-Life Care and Palliative Nursing flashcards as text
Which document allows an older adult to designate a person to make healthcare decisions on their behalf if they become incapacitated?
Answer: Durable power of attorney for healthcare (healthcare proxy)
A durable power of attorney for healthcare designates a specific individual as the healthcare proxy to make medical decisions when the patient lacks decision-making capacity.
The primary goal of hospice care for an older adult with a terminal illness is to:
Answer: Provide comfort-focused care to maximize quality of life
Hospice care is a philosophy and service that focuses on comfort, symptom management, and quality of life rather than curative treatment, supporting both patient and family.
An older adult patient with terminal cancer rates their pain as 8/10. The nurse administers the ordered PRN morphine. This action reflects which principle of palliative care?
Answer: Aggressive symptom management to promote comfort
In palliative care, effective and timely symptom management—including adequate analgesia—is a core ethical obligation to maintain patient comfort and dignity.
A nurse is discussing advance directives with an older adult patient. The POLST (Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment) form differs from a living will in that POLST:
Answer: Is a physician order that is actionable across all healthcare settings
POLST is a physician order that translates patient wishes into actionable medical orders honored across all care settings, unlike a living will which is a legal directive that must be interpreted.
Which symptom is most common and distressing for older adults in the final days of life that requires active nursing management?
Answer: Pain and dyspnea
Pain and dyspnea are the most prevalent and distressing symptoms at end of life, and their proactive management is a central nursing responsibility in end-of-life care.
The nurse notes that a dying patient's respirations have become irregular with periods of apnea. The nurse recognizes this pattern as:
Answer: Cheyne-Stokes respirations, a normal end-of-life change
Cheyne-Stokes respirations—cyclic periods of increasing then decreasing breathing depth with apneic episodes—are a normal physiologic sign of imminent death as brain stem regulation declines.
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