People with chronic conditions such as cancer, diabetes, and kidney disease require specialized medical care. Palliative care is focused on providing relief from stress and symptoms associated with these conditions (Anderson & Deravin, 2017). The goal of providing palliative care to patient is to improve the quality of life for both the patient and the family. As a registered nurse, I have been trained to provide palliative care and extra support for patients with chronic infections. Palliative care is appropriate at any stage in a chronic illness and can be offered with curative treatment. Palliative care treats anxiety, pain, difficulty sleeping, loss of appetite, nausea, shortness of breath, and fatigue. As a nurse, I help patients with chronic conditions to carry on with their daily life. Thus, palliative care helps to improve the quality of a patient’s life.
As a registered nurse and a member of the palliative team, I work with my patients and their families as well as other healthcare providers. These individuals provide an extra layer of support when the patient needs it most. Besides treating patient’s symptoms, the palliative care team dedicates enough time to communicate with the patient and the patient.
Health caregivers can provide basic psychological and medical support necessary to control pain and other symptoms associated with chronic conditions. Also, when a patient is at home, the caregivers can be trained by healthcare staff to provide psychological and physical support as well helping the patients with adherence to their prescriptions. Also, medical attention from community health workers should be available as needed during palliative care. However, when palliative care is provided several factors need to be examined including the affordability and the presence of community care and support services (Holt, 2015). Besides, developing guidelines and training in palliative care need to be incorporated into nursing programs for clinical management of chronic healthcare conditions.
References
Anderson, J., & Deravin, L. (2017). The importance of palliative care education for nursing students. Australian Nursing and Midwifery Journal, 25(1), 39.
Holt, T. (2015). SP-0101: The importance of palliative care in radiation oncology training programmes. Radiotherapy and Oncology, 115, S49.
