Reflection On Palliative Care

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

The first half of this clinical placement, I was on a palliative ward. While others might find it difficult caring for patients at the end stage of life or in great deal of pain, I find that it gives me a great deal of satisfaction that I was able to provide care for these client in my own unexperienced way of palliative care. Being a patient myself of a very serious illness in the past, the goal of a palliative care team which is to provide quality of life during these difficult stages of the client, hits close to my heart. I might consider working in the palliative care unit in the future.

The purpose of this paper is to examine communication strategies related to palliative and end-of-life care with a focus on Aboriginal clients. Firstly, I will explain the role of cultural competence in the nursing care of an Aboriginal client. Secondly, I will argue the cultural challenges a nurse may face when caring and communicating with Aboriginal clients receiving palliative end-of-life care. Thirdly, I will present solutions to the aforementioned communicative challenges. Lastly, I will discuss the impact I believe this experience may have on my future practice.

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

The present-day misconception of palliative care possibly comes from the circumstance that palliative care was used interchangeably with hospice care until the 1980s. (Clark & Seymour, 1999). Clark and Seymour (1999) extensively write on the beginnings and evolution of palliative care. They describe the progression of palliative care as a whole and explain the movement from palliative starting out as supplemental care to terminal patients to the concept division of palliative and hospice care. They describe the differences in each and explain why palliative is its own concept that differentiates from hospice care. In 2002, the World Health Organization defined palliative care as “an approach” that increases the quality of life of

Palliative care, somewhat similar to Hospice care, focuses on relieving or preventing suffering from a life altering illness. The goal for both Palliative and Hospice care is to provide the best possible quality of life to

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

When I was fourteen, I went to South Korea and visited my grandmother who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. She was staying with one of my aunts in an apartment complex that restricted many of her daily activities and years later, her dementia progressed and passed away. Within the short time I spent with her, it was difficult for me to help her with her daily activities while maintaining her dignity. Therefore, when reflecting her death, I wondered about the type of care my grandmother had received. My potential learner gains from reviewing the literatures on this topic are how to successfully give a patient with dementia complete palliative care.

There is a need for evidence on palliative care because improving strategies could potentially improve the patients end of life care and could ensure that they die in a dignified

Paulus, (2008) discusses in her thesis that patients with chronic diseases need symptom control and pain management but are often referred to palliative care services too late and do not receive the care and support they need. Late decision making reduces patient autonomy; patients may become too unwell to participate in formulating their plan of care (Al-Qurainy, Collis, & Feuer, 2009). In a study carried out by evaluating the notes of patients that had died it was concluded that physicians did not feel confident giving an end of life diagnosis; this can cause a delay in care (Gibbins, McCoubrie, Alexander, Kinzel, & Forbes, 2009). Palliative care in hospitals would improve the quality of end of life care. Paulus (2008) believes it is an

This is recognized to be an issue, and throughout the article the authors provided an understanding of how palliative care and end-of-life care are provided too late for a patient and should be provided at an earlier time in order to bring more comfort to the patients. The authors suggest that when and how end-of-life care is provided should be altered, with nursing ethics in mind, so that patients and nurses may feel better about the care they receive. This source will help my research by providing information on how changing the policies of end-of-life care and palliative care can result in the patient feeling a relief from their suffering and ultimately feeling more comfortable. This will also help my argument in how altering the current policies and focusing on providing better end-of-life care can lead to the diminishment of physician-assisted

I think the lay public needs to be better informed about palliative pain and symptom management so that they can better understand how to help their loved one to get relief from the debilitating effects of their serious illness. Many of these patients suffer from pain, dyspnea, delirium, constipation and many other things that can be treated with the use of palliative care. If their families were taught more about it, I feel that families would be more accepting of this form of treatment. Palliative care can also help address the emotional impact this may have on the patients and their families and help them both to deal with the diagnosis and illness

A research critique is done to provide an effective theoretical foundation to guide health care providers in formulating evidence-based practices. At the end of a critique, the nurse will be able to lead into conclusions based on the results, strengths, limitations, and methods used in a research article. The study that I will be critiquing is focused on how nurses are knowledgeable with regards to providing care of patients in palliative treatment and therapy. I have always perceived palliative means the alleviation of an individual from certain factors that causes enough distress, stress, and limitless discomfort, which not only affects the patient, but also inflicts emotional, physical, and mental suffering to the family, and other people

I have been a registered nurse at UCLA for 18 months. One particular issue that has captured my attention is the utilization of palliative care in health care. Because nurses are generally at the bedside all the time, they have an important role to play in voicing the importance of its utilization and implementation in the patient’s care.

Key importance of the palliative care approach in nursing is for it to be responsive, rather than