- Describe your response to pain you have experienced. What were effective methods used to deal with the pain?
- If the pain describe above was not chronic pain, how would your responses change if this pain was now chronic. Would the approach to its management change for you? How?
- Did those around you understand the pain you were experiencing? Why or why not? How did their understanding or lack of understanding make you feel?
- How could this experience with pain impact your response to a patient with pain?
- Is the death of a child with a chronic illness more tragic than that of an adult? Why or Why?
- What would you do and say to parents who had a child with a chronic illness who is dying?
- What will be important to you when you are dying?
- How do you feel about the use of life sustaining measures in the face of terminal illness? Permanent coma? Irreversible chronic illness, such as Alzheimer’s disease?
- Do you have strong feelings about particular medical procedures? Some procedures to think about include: mechanical breathing (respirator), cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), artificial nutrition and hydration, hospital intensive care, pain relief medication, chemo or radiation therapy and surgery.
- What limitations to your physical and mental health would affect the health care decisions you would make?
- Would you want to be placed in a nursing home if your condition warranted?
- Would you want to have financial matters taken into account when treatment decisions you would make?
- Would you prefer hospice care with the goal of keeping you comfortable in your home during the final period of your life, as an alternative to hospitalization?
- In general, do you wish to participate or share in making decisions about your health care and treatment?
- Would you always want to know the truth about your condition, treatment options and the chance of success of treatments?