Palliative Family Care

This author’s personal perceptions concerning patients facing a lingering terminal illness, have been shaped by over 20 years of critical care nursing experience. Facing death and illness on a daily basis requires self-examination and a high degree of comfort with one’s own mortality, limits and values. Constant exposure to the fragility of life forces respect for the whole person and the people who love them. A general approach to patients who are actively dying is to allow them to define what they want and need during this time. The nurse’s role

A person’s life can end at any age. They can depart quickly or slowly. End of life care, also known as palliative care, is the care of patients that are not only in their final hours or days but the patients with a terminal illness that has become incurable. End of life care takes into mind what the patient desires so it is recommended that they consider an advanced care plan also known as an advance directive and living will. These documents allow the patient to formulate decisions on the future of their care if, at any point, they cannot vocally express themselves.

Death is inevitable. It is one of the only certainties in life. Regardless, people are often uncomfortable discussing death. Nyatanga (2016) posits that the idea of no longer existing increases anxiety and emotional distress in relation to one’s mortality. Because of the difficulty in level of care for end-of-life patients, the patient and the family often need professional assistance for physical and emotional care. Many family caregivers are not professionally trained in medicine, and this is where hospice comes into play. Hospice aims to meet the holistic needs of both the patient and the patient’s family through treatment plans, education, and advocacy. There is a duality of care to the treatment provided by hospice staff in that they do not attempt to separate the patient’s care from the family’s care. Leming and Dickinson (2011) support that hospice, unlike other clinical fields, focuses on the patient and the family together instead of seeing the patient independent of the family. Many times in hospitals, the medical team focuses solely on the goal of returning the patient back to health in order for them to return to their normal lives. They do not take into account the psychological and spiritual components of the patient’s journey and the journey that the family must take as well. For treatment of the patient, Leming and Dickinson agree that hospice does not attempt to cure patients, and instead concentrates solely

Over the past five weeks, I have learned what palliative care really is all about. I found that there were areas that really changed my perspective as well, about what palliative care is. Some of these include, but are not limited to, when palliative care is used, how difficult is can be to get patients the pain management they need, as well as how many different complimentary therapies are available to patients.

Death is an experience that we will all have to encounter at some stage in life, but for those with elderly parents or relatives, the experience becomes more real. “The experience of dying not only affects the person who is dying but also caregivers, family members, and friends who are left behind” (Osterbur, 2015, p. 102 ) and I can associate with that. My maternal grandmother suffered a major stroke and was later diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.  She died in the hospital 2 years ago. Unfortunately, she was not a recipient of hospice care and the task of caring for her was done at home with the help of a hired aide and family members. Novak (2012), explains that many are faced with the dilemma of institutional death or at home and the decision to prolong care or end treatment can be burdensome (p. 411). It was an uphill battle and emotionally draining for my mom and

The beginning of life is celebrated. Books and resources are shared among friends and family in preparation for becoming a new parent. So, what happens as one approaches the end of life? Unfortunately, the same care and sharing rarely occurs in those circumstances and many face the prospect of dying unprepared. Though most people state they would prefer to die at home, this is often not where death occurs. Many Americans spend their last days attached to medical apparatus that keeps the body alive, but it does not allow for communication with family and often requires heavy sedation. Additionally, this level of treatment comes at a high price. As a society, we must become as comfortable in addressing the end of life process as we

According to Allen et al. (2012), “millions of people with chronic illnesses endure unrelieved pain, uncontrolled physical symptoms and unresolved psychosocial or spiritual problems.” This issue occurs because palliative care is often considered a form of end-of-life care. Palliative care is a treatment that can be used for patients who suffer from chronic illnesses and diseases while receiving curative treatment. (Horowitz, Grambling & Quill, 2014) purposely states the misconceptions of palliative care and advocated for seriously ill patients that education must bring under control the misconceptions. Some patients do not receive appropriate symptom management because the palliative care treatment needed is often confused with end-of-life care. However, end-of-life care attempts to relieve pain and suffering when a disease is no longer responsive to curative treatment. Pain and suffering could ultimately be controlled or even eliminated through the proper utilization of palliative care. Patients who are not referred to palliative care in a timely manner is more likely to have poor quality of life, uncontrolled symptom management and increased amounts of visits to the emergency room during the disease process. Patients with life limiting illnesses bear the burden of increased discomfort and increased suffering. Nurses experience clinical practice issues and difficulties in the clinical setting during the delivery of comfort and symptom management. These issues

In nursing, the goal of care is usually to restore the patient back to the highest level of health possible. In some cases, however, the goals of care change when a curative approach is no longer appropriate. The new goals of care could simply be palliation and pain control rather than a restoration back to full health. This type of care is called palliative care. Palliative care is not the same as end-of-life care, but the two go hand-in-hand at times. The goal of end-of-life care is a “good” death, good being defined by the patient. Palliation is part of that “good” death. Both palliative care and end-of-life

Have you ever gone to the Doctors before? The person who weighed you and took your temperature before you got to see the doctor was a nurse. A Nurse is – (verb) 1 to take care of (as a young child or a sick person) 2 to treat with special care ("Webster's dictionary & thesauras for students”). One thing I knew before I started researching is there are many different kinds of nursing. In this paper I will be exploring two different branches of nursing Hospice and Home Health Care.

The three articles were most relevant to the topic and explored the implications that family involvement has during end-of-life in long term care from the family perspective. The three recurrent themes that family involvement has during EOL in long term care are: improved caregiver advocacy and improved quality of end-of-life care for patients achieved through improved communication.

While every effort should be made to comply, the patient’s wishes have to be considered in light of practical issues such as the availability of professional and volunteer support, and the attitudes and abilities of family members.” (Kaye, n.d.) This reporter gave information to the family on Hospice home health care.

When caring for a terminally ill patient, each member of the health care team contributes in providing end-of-life (EOL) care. In order to know our role in the care, it is important to understand the legal rights of the patient. In 1991, the United States legislated the Patient Self-Determination Act (PSDA) in regards to EOL decision-making. According to our textbook, the PDSA “relies on state laws related to EOL care and was designed to encourage communication about end of life issues” (Grace, 2013, p. 123). This act helps ensure that patients receive adequate information regarding advanced directives and offers protection of their right to self-determination in health care decisions (K, 1992).

According to the Journal of Nurse Practitioners (2009), one common nursing diagnosis related to end of life care is ineffective family coping related to prolonged disease/disability progression that exhausts the supportive capacity of significant persons. Some nursing interventions that can be employed towards this diagnosis are 1. Determine the level of impairment of perceptual, cognitive, and/or physical abilities of the patient. 2. Evaluate illness and current behaviors that are interfering with the care of the patient. 3. Establish rapport and acknowledge difficulty of the situation for the family. 4. Involve significant other in information giving, problem solving, and care of patient as feasible. Instruct in medication administration techniques, needed treatments, and ascertain adeptness with required equipment, and 5. Include all family members as appropriate in discussions. Provide and/or reinforce information about terminal illness and/or death and future family needs (p.

It has been the tradition to train caregivers not to become emotionally involved, but in terminal illness the patient and family need to experience the personal concern of those taking care of them. Profound involvement without loss of objectivity should be allowed and fostered, realizing this may present certain risks to the caregiver. 5. Health care services customarily lack coordination. The organization structure must provide links with existing health care professionals in the community.

According to the article by DiMartino at el. (2014), Cancer is considered the second leading cause of death in the United States and majority of patients that are diagnosed with cancer will die from these disease without receiving proper care, such as hospice. Some people in the United States and other places all over the world believe in a myth that says hospice speeds up a person’s death. But, without hospice patients may feel like they are a burden to their families and they would want to die sooner. However, through this research and six articles a reader can see that, “hospice provides extra time for the families and the patient to say their goodbyes, to seek out resolutions, and find the closure that the both parties need” (Connor et