Aromatherapy Essay

The World Health Organisation (2010) defines palliative care as: An approach that improves the quality of life of patients and their families facing problems associated with life threatening illness, through the prevention and relief of suffering by means of early identification and impeccable assessment and treatment of pain and other problems, physical, psychosocial and spiritual. It is also our duty to support John and his wife`s in their decision for John to die at home, Department of health (2008) patients should have a choice over the care they receive and where.

Having a pet that is sick or injured can be hard; you want to provide relief without using the harsh man-made medicines that can be more harmful with side effects, etc. However what can we do for our four-legged babies? This was my dilemma wanting to help my dog I went on the hunt for alternatives. I found Hobbs book for using essential oils for our pets. I personally didn’t know that aromatherapy could be used for pets. Nevertheless the author’s writing style is so wonderfully written, easy to read and understand helping me to get started with basic how-tos. I personally wish there had been more but you can’t go wrong with what Hobbs has provided. I loved that not only I found out what oils are best for certain aliments such as the cinnamon/clove/rosemary/lemon

The comments regarded aromatherapy being implemented into healthcare. One regarded the potential for other patient sensitivity to essential oils. Another individual stated in the comments that this would work in the OR setting. Another individual stated that it would be worth trying in their department. Lastly, an individual stated that they are glad to see this therapeutic treatment making its way into mainstream medicine. Overall, we felt that the presentation went well, we felt prepared for additional questions. The staff’s positive attitudes towards essential oils allowed for engaging

The team that provides this service are all highly trained medical professionals that include physicians, nurses, patient care technicians, counselors, and chaplains to offer support. Studies have shown that palliative care is effective in relieving pain and symptom distress with expert precision. It also helps with difficult decision making, reduces confusion, anxiety and stress for the patient and family. Palliative also supports the family in their care giving role, offering advice, instruction, and referral services. (Baycare,

Aromatherapy is a form of alternative medicine that focuses on the use of essential oils and other aromatic compounds. Essential oils are extracted from volatile plant materials and have the chemical properties to alter cognition, mood, and even health. There is not a great body of scholarly literature available on the efficacy of this treatment, but recent studies point to essential oils having some therapeutic properties and certain suggest additional research (Edris, 2007). Historically, aromatherapy has been used since ancient times, and distilled oils since about the 11th century. The method came to the forefront in modern times in the early 20th century, was used by the French in World War II. Modern studies link scent to a variety of effects, but the number of variables and cofactors make it difficult to actual pin point physiological effects. However, chemical analysis of essential oils do show that there are a number of anti-bacterial and chemical processes enhanced by aroma or massage with essential oils (Soden, et.al., 2004;

Palliative care is a relatively new concept. Palliative care programs have become more numerous and better utilized since 2000 and continue to grow. It is now accepted that the palliative care model is appropriate for patients with life-limiting illnesses. Chan et al. (2013) stated that the ultimate goal of palliative care is to relieve suffering and to maximize the quality of life for dying patients and their families, regardless of the stage of illness or the need for other medical treatments (p. 133). As life-expectancy increases, there is a growing need for these services. People are living longer with chronic diseases and palliative care services can provide an extra layer of support to patients and their families. Evidence has shown that 13% - 36% of hospital inpatients qualify for palliative care services (Robinson, Gott, & Ingleton, 2014).

Aromatherapy, as defined by Wikipedia, is “a form of alternative medicine that uses volatile plant materials, known as

Palliative care is care given to terminally-ill patients and their families in order to improve the overall quality of living through physical, emotional and spiritual support. It aims to shift the focus from Euthanasia and death, to preserving and improving the sanity of life to the greatest extent possible.

Palliative care is a system of holistic care aimed to satisfy the requirements of the chronically ill, typically within their home and community rather than as an in-patient1. Hospice is based on the same principles of care, however, it requires that a patient be deemed with six months or less to live and that life-sustaining treatments be ceased, creating an important distinction between the two. Hospice and palliative care both provide comfort, but hospice is for comfort during end-of-life. Pain and palliative care patients have indicated that receiving that care not only reduced their pain that was once intolerable either completely or to a substantial extent, but it also maintained or increased their hope and outlook on life1. In this country, palliative medicine is a relatively new field of medicine. It wasn’t until 2014 that the WHO began to recognize “palliative and end of life care services as essential and integral to health systems worldwide”2.

Researchers at the University of Northumbria found that Rosemary essential oils enhanced the ability for people to remember events and to complete tasks at particular times. The researchers are building on their previous research that rosemary improves long-term and mental arithmetic. The experiment showed that people who were in the rosemary scented room performed better than the people in the room with no scent. Also, in this experiment it was tested to see if the scent would change people’s moods, but the rosemary aroma had not effect on the participants’. The researchers have now proven that rosemary aromas increases long-term memory, mental arithmetic, and remembering event and particular times to complete tasks. And that aromas can influence

Aromatherapy is the practice of using the volatile oils from plants for therapeutic wellbeing. Used by many ancient cultures, with the first discovery dating back more than 6000 years ago in Iraq. The name aromatherapy was created by the French chemist Rene-Maurice Gattefosse (1881-1950) whilst studying and working in his family’ perfumery business. Similar in nature to herbs, they have complex chemical components that can stimulate the body to trigger a healing response. These essential oils can be utilised in massage, inhalations, compresses, added to baths and used for toxic free cleaning.

Aromatherapy is a therapeutic practice that incorporates olfactory stimulation into therapeutic treatment. This form of therapy is seen as a natural technique to heal a person’s mind, body, and soul (Ali et al., 2015). There have been many ancient civilizations that have used this type of complementary and alternative medicine. These civilizations such as Egypt, China, and India have been using oils for over 6,000 years to treat an array of different ailments (Ali et al., 2015). Along with ancient civilizations, there have been over 200 references of the use of oils in the Bible (Perry, N., & Perry, E., 2006). Therapeutic oils have been a part of history and have reemerged into society as a holistic alternative therapy.

Before I started this class I thought palliative care was only used as end of life care, or for when a curative treatment was unavailable or had failed. As we learned about the different models of care, and how they have changed over the years, it became evident that the use of palliative care has changed drastically over the past several decades. In the 1800s to 1900s, palliative care was only used once the patient had reached the dying stage, and only included the patient in this care, not their families1. Before taking this course, this is what I thought of palliative care as well. Since the late 1900s though, palliative care has been used in a more proactive approach. From the moment an individual receives a life threatening illness, palliative care begins. This includes caring for the family of the patient as well. This care increases as the patient’s illness progresses, and even continues for the family after the death of the patient. Learning this has really made an impact on how I would like to work as a

In the meantime, your kitchen may well provide the basic ingredients for some surprisingly powerful mood-boosting aromatherapy: From the scent of vanilla to that of freshly baked apple pie with cinnamon, both of which are calming and mood enhancing, to various citrus fruits, especially grapefruit, orange, lemon, or lime, you probably have everything you need right at

3. Palliative Care Council of South Australia. (1996). Good palliative care project: final report. Retrieved September 4, 2002, from Palliative Care Council of So