Place it in a conspicuous position on the patient s chart and label the chart, if necessary. State laws may place some restrictions on advance directives or a patient may have one from another state. Nurses in the outpatient setting can educate patients to ask their physicians to make their advance directive part of their medical record, they should keep a copy where it can be found easily and to communicate their wishes clearly to their family and physician and be sure they are understood. Providing psychosocial support for patient and family has always been an essential part of nursing. Nurses may well be trusted in large part because they are presumed to act in defense of their patients lives.
Nurses give great importance to the psychosocial health of their patients.
According to Smith, most professional literature related to the psychosocial care of the dying is written by nurses. Nurses will undoubtedly, sometime during their career, be faced with similar challenges. However, being focused on the nurse s most significant role as a patient advocate, will assist the nurse when making incisive decisions. American Nurses Association Code for Nurses with Interpretive Statements, Section 1.1. Deciding How We Die.