Palliative Care Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Palliative Care - Term Paper Example In order for an individual to have a better experience, a holistic approach should be taken by the medical staff. The therapeutic intervention by nurses should address the following parameters; psychosocial, physical, cultural and spiritual. Several studies have been carried out that showed that nurses at times are unaware of the above mentioned parameters and are unable to entirely meet the needs of the patients (Aziz et al., 2012). Nurse Patient Relationship Evidence has been found that at times the patient’s quality of life may continue to deteriorate despite the fact that they have been admitted to palliative services early on in their illness. It was however discovered that the relationship between the nurse and the patient was the determining factor in the improvement of patient’s quality of life. This factor was found to create trust ad better communication between the two individuals (Aziz et al., 2012). The first aspect of palliative care that nurses should add ress is establishing trust with palliative care patients and their families in order to alleviate and reduce their worries towards the inevitable outcome of their terminal illness. Patients who are suffering from terminal illnesses often present certain symptoms of distress. However, these symptoms need specified management between each patient and this can be largely dependent on the cultural and religious views. These have been found to adversely affect the severity and nature of the symptoms if they are not addressed properly (Aziz et al., 2012). A nurse can familiarize herself with these aspects by better communication with the patient (Mok & Chiu, 2004). Despite the necessity to maintain professionalism, at times a nurse has to place the needs of a patient before her professional opinion .(Boog & Tester, 2008).Autonomy enables a patient to decide his or her medical care, and hence gives him the ability to refuse treatment. The intimate detail of this procedure may be altered de pending on the dynamics of the patient’s family (Boog & Tester, 2008). The nurses also have to address the emotional and physical burden that is placed on the patient’s family (Mok & Chiu, 2004). They need to create a supportive system which is addressed towards both the patient and his or her family. This has been found to be more effective by adopting good listening and communication skills. A study that was carried out showed that palliative care patients have a better quality of life when they are viewed as people separate from their terminal illness (Boog & Tester, 2008). The evident from this survey also states that the dying process can be made more bearable for the patient, family members and caregivers by nurses implementing the above mentioned attributes of palliative care (Aziz et al., 2012). In depth analysis of holistic palliative care Costello estimated that approximately one million people die every week. These figures further emphasize on the importance of palliative care in the community. The initial principles of palliative care emphasize on the care for any individuals facing the end of life. Therefore, these principles have been based on holism and looking at each individual as a whole unique entity. The model for this type of palliative care is known as the whole person care model and is popular among nurses worldwide. As mentioned above, this model creates a healing and nurturing environment which enables each individual to be