Palliative
care is undertaken by the multidisciplinary team. Its objective is to
promote efficient and quality care to patients with terminally ills, with a
prognosis of less than six months.
Terminal
illness refers to an advanced and incurable disease, in which no patient
response to treatment. This creates an emotional impact on both the illness in
the family.
Integrating
palliative and curative treatments has been shown to reduce pain, improve
satisfaction, reduces costs and facilitates transitions between different
stages of disease progression. Palliative care is offered as needs are
developed and before that do not respond to any other curative treatment
Objectives
to be achieved by professionals in palliative care are:
• Generate
maximum comfort to the patient and family.
• Conduct
comprehensive care encompassing physical spheres, psychic, emotional and
spiritual needs of both patient and family.
• Control
of symptoms, recognize them, have realistic goals, reasonable and tiered,
assess, reassess. It is important to treat them because they influence the
patient and family.
• Promote
relaxation and calming techniques.
• Build
confidence, giving emotional support to the patient and family.
• Check the
patient's environment, generating a disease process good communication between
professionals, patients, and family.
• Treatment
of pain using analgesic scales.
• Maintain
adequate nutrition in the patient.
• Treat
gastrointestinal symptoms (anorexia, vomiting, nausea, constipation, diarrhea,
etc.).
• Treatment
of respiratory symptoms (dyspnea, rales, etc..).
• Maintain
proper oral hygiene and cleanliness in the patient.
• Exchange
of information, feelings, or thoughts between patient - professional - family.
Close attention and empathy towards family.
• Emotional
support during the grieving process and comprehensive home care.
Communication
and information is also one of the basic tools of therapy in palliative care.
The goal of
communication is to inform, guide and support the patient and family to have
elements to participate in decision-making. This should be a dynamic process
that suits the turning points of the disease. You should review the information
and perception of health or disease with the patient and family and prepare to
deterioration, dependence and even death itself.
It is
important to check the patient's understanding and know how far you want to be
informed.
The Last Chapter: End of Life Decisions. The
program examines end-of-life care options and the need for advance directives.
It focuses on empowering individuals in having the last word on how they live at the end of their lives.
REFERENCES:
Palliative
Care Guide. Spanish Society for Palliative Care. Available at:
http://www.secpal.com/guiacp/index.php
Treaty for
geriatric residents. Spanish Society of Geriatrics and Gerontology. [Home Site]
[accessed May 18, 2013] Available at: http://www.segg.es/tratadogeriatria/main.html
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