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Palliative care plays an important role in the lives of persons with serious illness. Palliative care can be given to patients who have chronic illness or life limiting conditions. It involves...

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Palliative care plays an important role in the lives of persons with serious illness. Palliative care can be given to patients who have chronic illness or life limiting conditions. It involves multidisciplinary aspects which should be addressed so as to enhance the quality of life for terminally ill patients and their families. Palliative care mainly emphasizes symptom control and pain management to provide comfort to the patient as the end of life approaches. Age appropriate palliative care entails certain measures such as gives better understanding of the nature of the illness and provides psychological support to the family and patient during the end stage of life. Age appropriate palliative care is important in order to meet the individual needs which will differ according to their age group. The importance of providing age appropriate palliative care to a person and their family is discussed in this essay. This is followed by a detailed account of the nurse’s role in addressing the needs of young adults and their family in a palliative care context.
Patients and their families feel more comfortable and relaxed in age appropriate palliative care because they know that support will be provided according to their age, according to their condition, and as per their individual needs. Age appropriate palliative care encourages the patient and their families to choose their prefe
ed atmosphere for a peaceful and dignified death (Sorensen & Iedema, XXXXXXXXXXAge appropriate palliative care gives more room to the patients and their families to express their emotional feelings and it increases self-confidence and self-awareness in patients. Age appropriate palliative care respects the patient’s autonomy in decision making (Sorensen & Iedema, 2011) and therefore, provides continuity of care which promotes a sense of safety and trust for patients.
In 2011, worldwide it was predicted that 20.4 million people would require palliative care at the end of their life. The statistics shows that 69% of people who required palliative care were over 60 years, and 25% of people were 15-59 years old, whereas 6% were children less than 15 years of age (Worldwide Palliative Care Alliance & World Health Organisation, XXXXXXXXXXEven though the number of palliative care places for paediatrics is less than for older people, giving care to the paediatric patients is more challenging than geriatric care because children and their parents need more emotional and psychological support than do elderly patients (Williams-Reade et al., XXXXXXXXXXChildren and parents often feel more distressed and suffer from complicated bereavement grief more than older patients. Thus, early and proactive interventions to support children facing death can help them to adapt to loss (Hall, Browne, Bexon, Bleakley & Cheadle, XXXXXXXXXXOverall, age appropriate palliative care prepares the patient and family to accept the patient’s condition, tries to fulfil the patient’s last wishes, and provides holistic care at end of life.
When treating young adults aged 19-35 year old, the nurse should pay more attention to the patient’s physical, social, emotional, cognitive and spiritual changes, because young adulthood is a period when they start to become more independent, and this is the time when they make life partners (Clark & Fasciano, XXXXXXXXXXHowever, the disease process will inte
upt their life events like education, employment, ma
iage, career and parenthood (Bhatnagar & Joshi, XXXXXXXXXXDue to their ill health, young adults will lose their healthy peers and partners; sometimes they even get separated from their family members, which will lead to isolation. Thus, the nurse should provide social support to the young adults and their families to avoid the loneliness that may occur in the disease experience. Trevino, Fasciano, Block, and Prigerson XXXXXXXXXXstated that social support is a significant and primary coping strategy for terminally ill young adults and their family. Social support from friends, community members and healthcare providers will reduce the distress and increase the psychological wellbeing of young adults and their family. When they get enough social support, life seems more meaningful and worthwhile to them.
Providing health education to the young adults and their loved ones is a most significant strategy in palliative care. As a result of this health education, young adults and their families will have a better understanding of the disease process and its treatment. Evaluating and managing symptoms is a key element of end of life care. Thus, in the education program, the nurse should provide a clear explanation of the disease process, pain and symptom management (Malloy et al., XXXXXXXXXXFirstly, a nurse needs to discuss pharmacological strategies with the young adults and their family. These include the medication dosage, route administered and side effects of the medications. Secondly, nurses should teach the young adults and their relatives about non-pharmacological strategies: these include heat and cold therapy, acupuncture therapy, massage and other alternative therapies. Thirdly, nurses should give more information about recreational therapies: these may include music therapy and physical exercises to control their symptoms and reduce the pain (Kilonzo, Lucey & Twomey, XXXXXXXXXXTherefore, the health educational program about symptom control and pain management strategies will help the young adults to spend quality of time with their family and to develop positive attitudes towards life.
Nurses should provide psychological support to young adults and their families during the last stage of life, because at this stage they often suffer from low self-esteem, anxiety, depression and fear of abandonment. Thus, psychological support promotes awareness of stress management and coping strategies by allowing the young adults and their family to participate in social activities. Social activities include joining in the community club and playing games. Kulkarni et al., XXXXXXXXXXdiscus that caregivers will suffer from more stress than the patient because they have a lack of knowledge about care providing and they are not prepared to accept the condition of the patient, which can cause the young adults to have lack of support from caregivers. Thus, nurses should provide counselling to the family to gain confidence about giving care. Nurses should assure young adults and their family that they can reduce their stress and enhance their mental health wellbeing by doing yoga, meditation and other alternative relaxation therapies (Clark & Fasciano, XXXXXXXXXXIt is the nurse’s responsibility to provide all the information to the young adults and their family about where to get help if they have any concerns or feel overwhelmed, or when they feel they cannot manage it themselves. By providing this information, the nurse can prevent stressful events for young adults and their family.
Overall, age appropriate palliative care provides coordinated, comprehensive and holistic care to the patient and their families at the end of life. The main goal of age appropriate palliative care is that nurses must respect the right to life and the importance of patients’ preferences, dignity and being treated courteously. Age appropriate palliative care empowers the patient and their family to give their life as much comfort as is possible during the last days of life. In addition, palliative care nurses mainly focus on pain management, symptom control, providing health education, social support and psychological support to the patient and their family to reduce stress and strengthen their confidence about disease and pain management. In short, their main aim is to enhance the quality of life of the patient and their family at the end of life.
REFERENCES
Bhatnagar, S., & Joshi, S XXXXXXXXXXPalliative care of young adults: An issue    which needs higher and better awareness. Indian Journal of Palliative    Care, 17(3), XXXXXXXXXXdoi: XXXXXXXXXX/ XXXXXXXXXX
Clark, J., & Fasciano, K XXXXXXXXXXYoung adult palliative care: Challenges and     opportunities. American Journal of Hospice & Palliative Medicine, 32(1),     XXXXXXXXXXdoi: XXXXXXXXXX/ XXXXXXXXXX
Hall, L., Browne, J., Bexon, R., Bleakley, M., & Cheadle, A. (2015).    Interventions in the acute hospital setting to help children facing    bereavement. End of Life Journal, 5(1), 1-5. doi: XXXXXXXXXX/eoljnl-2015-    900001
Kilonzo, I., Lucey, M., & Twomey, F XXXXXXXXXXImplementing outcome measures    within an enhanced palliative care day care model. Journal of Pain and    Symptom Management, 50(3), XXXXXXXXXXRetrieved from https:
www-    clinicalkey-com-au.ezproxy.uws.edu.au/#!/content/playContent/1-s2.0-    S XXXXXXXXXX?returnurl=null&refe
er=null
Kulkarni, P., Kulkarni, P., Ghooi, R., Bhatwadekar, M., Thatte, N., & Anavkar, V.     XXXXXXXXXXStress among care givers: The impact of nursing a relative with    cancer. Indian Journal of Palliative Care, 20(1), XXXXXXXXXXRetrieved from    http:
go.galegroup.com.ezproxy.uws.edu.au/ps/i.do?&id=GALE|A357509    164&v=2.1&u=uwsydney&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w&authCount=1
Malloy, P., Paice, J., Coyle, N., Coyne, P., Smith, T., & Fe
ell, B. (2014).    Promoting palliative care worldwide through international nursing    education. Journal of Transcultural Nursing, 25(4), XXXXXXXXXX.    doi:10.1177/ XXXXXXXXXX
Sorensen, R., & Iedema, R XXXXXXXXXXEnd-of-life care in an acute care hospital:    Linking policy and practice. Death Studies, 35(6), XXXXXXXXXXdoi:    10.1080/ XXXXXXXXXX
Trevino, K., Fasciano, K., Block, S., & Prigerson, H XXXXXXXXXXCo
elates of social    support in young adults with advanced cancer. Supportive Care in    Cancer, 21(2), XXXXXXXXXXdoi: XXXXXXXXXX/s XXXXXXXXXX
Williams-Reade, J., Lamson, A. L., Knight, S. M., White, M. B., Ballard, S. M., &    Desai, P. P XXXXXXXXXXPaediatric palliative care: A review of needs,    obstacles and the future. Journal of Nursing Management, 23(1), 4-14.    doi: XXXXXXXXXX/jonm.12095
Worldwide Palliative Care Alliance & World Health Organisation XXXXXXXXXXGlobal    atlas of palliative care at the end of life. Retrieved from    http:
www.who.int/nmh/Global_Atlas_of_Palliative_Care.pdf
Answered Same Day Apr 12, 2020 Swinburne University of Technology

Solution

Anju Lata answered on Apr 14 2020
135 Votes
Running Head: PALLIATIVE CARE
PALLIATIVE CARE 4
ASSIGNMENT
HOILSTIC END OF LIFE CARE
HOLISTIC END OF LIFE CARE
Palliative care is immensely important for the people suffering from serious life limiting illness. Palliative care is offered to the patients having long term illness or terminal illness conditions. It is a multidisciplinary strategy to provide effective nursing and medical support to these patients and to improve the quality of life for them and their families. The care mainly focuses attention on controlling the symptoms and managing the pain to ensure maximum comfort to the patient during his end of life days.
In Australia, though most of the terminally ill patients prefer to die at their homes, around 52% usually die in the hospitals. In these conditions, delivering quality end of life care in hospitals is highly relevant. However, the acute care settings emphasize on initial diagnosis and immediate treatment to discharge the patient as soon as possible. When the condition gets more serious the initiation of terminal care often gets delayed. Moreover, starting the palliative care interventions during critical illness may lead to many social, emotional and physical challenges to be managed and controlled by the nursing care facility.
The monitoring and management of pain is very important in end of life care. It has been attributed to one of the most necessary requirement of palliative care. According to Australian Pharmacist (2013), cancer is the second major cause of death with pain in elderly patients. Every year an average of 70% old age people die with cancer every year.
The pain experienced by the terminally ill patients is mostly multi-factorial and complex. The aim of care is to reduce the sufferings and pain as much as possible (Fine, 2012).The experience of pain always vary from patient to patient so pain has to be assessed and reassessed to deliver satisfying treatment with help of both pharmacological and non pharmacological therapies (Australian Pharmacists, 2013).
The quality and safety of end of life care has remarkable impact for the patient as well as for his family. Caring for the dying family member is a personal challenge for the close ones as the illness is completely unexpected. The instance affects the patient just physically, but for the family members it is a mental and emotional trauma. Studies have reported that around 18-35% family members of terminally ill patients suffer with mental disorders (Gaudio et al, 2011). The members...
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