The research that was done in this article would be considered a non-experimental type. There were two types of observation that were conducted. The first type was that of focus groups and the second being the file audit, both of which are observational in nature. In this case this was the most appropriate type of research design to use. Since they were simply trying to see what was actually going on in this area and how that was affecting patients the only real way to tot this was by observation. From this article a nursing care issue that can be raised is that of how palliative care nurses manage family involvement with end of life issues. Are there any standard procedures that are used and if not should there be. The attached matrix shows a listing of primary research sources used to look at this issue.

Annotated Bibliography

Agnew, a, Manketelow, R, Taylor, B.J., Jones, L. (2010). Bereavement needs assessment in specialist palliative care: a review of the literature. Palliative Medicine. 24(1), p46-59.

In this article, Agnew, Manketelow, Taylor and Jones, identify and review grief measurement tools and their suitability for use in palliative care settings. They believe that there are certain tools that work and ones that don't. This article is an original article in a peer reviewed journal that utilizes 80 detailed references. These detailed references will be very useful in conducting further research (Agnew, Manketelow, Taylor and Jones, 2010).

Duke, Sue and Bennett, Helen. (2010). A narrative review of the published ethical debates in palliative care research and an assessment of their adequacy to inform research governance. Palliative Medicine. 24(2), p111-126.

In this article by Sue Duke and Helen Bennett, is a literature review published in a peer reviewed journal that was conducted using 69 different detailed sources. The authors looked the ethical issues that occur in research surrounding palliative care. Although it looks specifically at a framework for reconciling ethical issues raised with potential methodological strategies, this article will be helpful in linking the search for best practice methods with ethics. This article will be very helpful in conducting further research because of the number of sources that are cited in it (Duke and Bennett, 2010).

Abernethy, Amy P, Hanson, Laura C, Main, Deborah C., Kutner, Jean S. (2007). Palliative Care

Clinical Research Networks, a Requirement for Evidence-Based Palliative Care: Time for Coordinated Action. Journal of Palliative Medicine. 10(4), p845-850.

In this article Amy Abernethy, Laura Main and Jean Kutner report on evidence-based palliative care and how it requires a palliative care clinical research network in order to move toward standardization. This article is an editorial in a peer reviewed journal. Even though this article is an editorial, it is still a good source of research-based information, as the authors use 18 detailed references. This number of resources is a valuable source of credible articles on this topic (Abernethy, Hanson, Main and Kutner, 2007).

Hudson, P., Thomas, T., Quinn, K. And Aranda, S. (2009). Family meetings in palliative care:

are they effective? Palliative Medicine. 23(2), p150-157.

In this article by Hudson, Quinn and Aranda, the role of family meetings as a tool in palliative care is looked at. The authors look at whether family meetings are an essential tool for information sharing and planning. This is an article in a peer reviewed journal. It utilizes 18 different sources and will serve as a good exploration of tools that are needed in the palliative care arena. The cited references will be helpful in further exploration (Hudson, Thomas, Quinn and Aranda, 2009).

Murray, Mary Ann. (2008). A question of evidence: decision-making in palliative care nursing.

International Journal of Palliative Nursing. 14(1), p45-47.

In this article by Mary Ann Murray, she looks at current perspectives of evidence-based practice to promote a hierarchy of empirical evidence regarding nurses integrating research evidence into their practices. This is an article in a peer reviewed journal. The author takes a good look at what practices should be included in a best practice model while addressing the complexities of end of life care (Murray, 2008).

Currrow, David C., Wheeler, Jane L., Glare, Paul a., Kaasa, Stein., Abernethy Amy P. (2009). a

Framework for Generalizability in Palliative Care. Journal of Pain & Symptom

Management. 37(3), p373-386.

In this article by Currow, Wheeler, Glare and Kaasa, look at the idea of evidence-based principles being used in palliative care. They look at how new knowledge is generally taken into practice slowly and how the translation...

This is an article in a peer reviewed journal. This article will be very useful in establishing the need to evidence-based principles to be included in a standardized model for palliative care (Currrow, Wheeler, Glare, Kaasa and Abernethy, 2009).
Eagle, Lisanne M. And deVries, Kay. (2005). Exploration of the decision-making process for inpatient hospice admissions. Journal of Advanced Nursing. 52(6), p584-591.

This article by Eagle and deVries looks at some of the finding of a qualitative study which describes the decision making processes in regards to palliative care. The authors look at factors that are potentially influential in medical decisions. These factors include: patient diagnosis, symptoms, current location and the stated reason for treatment. This article is an original article in a peer reviewed journal that utilizes 27 references. This article will be very useful in determining what the best practices for palliative care should look like. The vast number of sources that it provides will be helpful in further research (Eagle deVries, 2005).

Finlay, Ilora G. (2009). Developing a Template to Plan Palliative Care Services: The Welsh

Experience. Journal of Pain & Symptom Management. 38(1), p81-86.

In this article by Ilora Finlay, looks at the specialist palliative care needs taking into account populations of all ages. The author looks at providing patient focused evidence-based care and what that should consist of. This is an original article in a peer reviewed journal. This article will be helpful in establishing a standardized model of palliative care (Finlay, 2009).

Murray, Mary Ann. (2007). Crossing over: transforming palliative care nursing services for the

21st century. International Journal of Palliative Nursing. 13(8), p366-376.

In this article Mary Ann Murray looks at the growing demand for end of life care. She looks at the fact that the current dominant model of palliative nursing is not going to be sufficient to keep up. This article is an original article in a peer reviewed journal that will be helpful in establishing the need for a standardized model for palliative care (Murray, 2007).

Byock, Ira, Twohig, Jeanne Sheils, Merriman, Melanie, Collins, Karyn. (2006). Peer

Professional Workgroups in Palliative Care: A Strategy for Advancing Professional

Discourse and Practice. Journal of Palliative Medicine. 9(4), p934-947.

In this article by Byock, Twohig, Merriman and Collins, that looks at a comprehensive effort that is going on to improve care at the end of life. They looked at the fact that palliative care is under utilized and inconsistent. This article is an original piece in a peer reviewed journal. It cites 34 different sources will be useful in doing further research. This article will be very helpful in establishing the need for a standardized care model (Byock, Twohig, Merriman and Collins, 2006).

After reviewing all of these articles there is a good case to be made for the fact that all of the researchers made a good case for the efficacy of developing a best practices for the area of palliative care. It was discussed how having a standardized model for the delivery of care would be helpful in making sure that palliative care was utilized and successful. It would also help to meet the demands that the 21st century are bringing about. In coming to this conclusion the researchers all basically used the same research tools. Most of them either looked at current literature of did case studies in order to establish their objectives. These were the appropriate tools for the researchers to use under these circumstances. The fist thing that needs to be done is to establish the fact that standardization is needed and then it can be determined what the best practices are that should be included in this model.

In summary these articles established the fact that palliative care is under utilized and much disorganized. There is evidence to support the idea of having a best practices model that is developed from evidence-based research. Once identified these practices could be developed into a standardized model of care that could be used by everyone in order to deliver the most efficient and successful palliative care possible. Nurse leaders must be visionary and operational to successfully advance nursing and to fully meet patient and facility needs.

The best nursing theory that could be recommended for carrying out this standardization would be that of Virginia Henderson and the Nature of Nursing. This theory is based on the unique function of the nurse being able to assist the individual, sick or well, in the performance of those activities contributing to health or its recovery or to peaceful death that…