%0 Journal Article
%T Evaluation of NursesĄŻ Perceptions on Providing Patient Decision Support with Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation
%A Nicole Pyl
%A Prudy Menard
%J ISRN Nursing
%D 2012
%R 10.5402/2012/591541
%X The decision whether to receive cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is a decision in which the personal values of the patient must be considered along with information about the risks and benefits of the treatment. A decision aid can be used to provide patient decision support to a patient who is seriously ill and needs to consider CPR options. The goal of this project was to identify the barriers and facilitators to using a CPR decision aid, through evaluating nursing perceptions on providing patient decision support. Using a needs assessment, it was determined that implementing a patient decision aid for CPR status in the Acute Monitor Area (AMA) of The Ottawa Hospital would be an excellent quality improvement project. The nurses who chose to participate were given an education session regarding patient decision support. Questionnaires were distributed to evaluate their views of patient decision support and decision aids before and after the education session and implementation of the CPR decision aid. Questionnaire results did not indicate a significant change between before or after education session and decision aid implementation. Qualitative reports did indicate that nurses generally have positive attitudes toward patient decision support and decision aids. The nurses identified specific barriers and facilitators in their commentaries. This clinically relevant data supports the idea that patient decision support should be integrated into daily nursing practice. 1. Introduction Improving informed decision making is essential for supportive end of life care [1¨C5]. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) preferences are the most common end of life discussion but occur infrequently and vary in content [1, 2]. Patients may not have the basic information needed and the timing for the discussion may be inappropriate [6¨C8]. Patient decision support focuses on providing the patient and families with practical information and resources. CPR preferences may also be overlooked or set aside by practitioners because it is a value-sensitive decision or because it is not identified as a high priority discussion [1, 3, 6, 9]. Value-sensitive decisions would benefit from a patient decision aid, where the patient is recognized as an expert in judging his/her own values [10¨C13]. Patients who need to address CPR status would benefit from health care professionals comfortable and familiar with providing patient decision support. CPR status is one of the most important health decisions and requires careful consideration of all alternatives and the consequences. For
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/isrn.nursing/2012/591541/