Today, with a growing need for palliative care, the demand for healthcare professionals is proportionately increasing.
Nurses are among those healthcare professionals that aim to alleviate and stabilize the conditions of patients having palliative care needs. Nurses who work in palliative care settings are trained to provide compassionate and holistic care to patients and to support their families and loved ones.
In this blog post, we will explore some of the ways in which nurses are improving patient care in palliative settings and the key role they play in this critical area of healthcare.
Enhancing Patient Comfort and Dignity
As a nurse working in palliative care settings, one of your primary goals is to enhance patient comfort and dignity. This means that you need to be attuned to your patient’s needs and preferences and provide care in a way that is respectful, compassionate, and supportive.
One way to enhance patient comfort and dignity is to by making sure patients are pain-free. You can achieve this by providing appropriate pain management medications and therapies, such as massage or relaxation techniques. You can also help patients maintain their dignity by respecting their privacy, offering them choices about their care, and supporting them in maintaining their independence as much as possible.
By providing emotional support, you can help patients regain their lost dignity. Patients undergoing palliative care may be going through a variety of negative emotions. As a nurse, you can provide a listening ear, offer reassurance and comfort, and help patients and their families to navigate the complex emotional landscape of palliative care.
In order to enhance patient comfort and dignity in a palliative care setting, nurses can use established strategies or models. One such model is the Dignity Model (DM) developed by Chochinov, which has been shown to be effective in improving patients’ sense of dignity and addressing sources of psychosocial and spiritual distress.
This model encourages reflection on matters of personal importance and aims to provide comprehensive care that considers the physical, psychosocial, and spiritual sources of influence on a patient’s quality of life. By incorporating DM into their practice, nurses can help patients maintain their dignity and improve their overall comfort in the face of a serious illness or condition.
Providing Emotional and Spiritual Support
You will likely encounter patients and their families who are experiencing many negative emotions, including grief, sadness, etc. As a nurse, you can provide comfort and support to help them navigate these difficult emotions and find meaning and purpose in their experiences.
One way to provide emotional and spiritual support is to be a good listener. You can create a safe and supportive environment where patients and their families feel comfortable expressing their emotions and concerns.
As a nurse, you can also offer resources and referrals for these aspects. You can connect patients and their families with social workers, chaplains, or other support services in the community. By providing access to these resources, you can help patients and families find additional sources of support and care.
As the demand for palliative care continues to rise around the globe, it becomes more important to have abilities that can help patients in such settings to have better emotional and spiritual states.
According to WHO, over 50 million individuals require palliative care every year. Unfortunately, only 12% of those who require this care actually receive it. This figure is anticipated to rise due to the increasing aging population. Also, the majority of patients in need of palliative care reside in low- and middle-income nations, with almost 78% of these patients hailing from these regions as of 2021.
Such findings necessitate more nurses equipped with the necessary palliative care skills that can reduce, if not eliminate, the pain and suffering of the affected ones and their families.
The idea of being able to relieve the suffering of patients in difficult medical conditions can be very satisfying, even if you are not a nurse. Fortunately, it is quite possible to feel those satisfying emotions. In fact, there are options available for those who want to become a nurse in less time period, such as accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing (ABSN) programs.
However, selecting a reliable institution to enroll in an accelerated BSN program is crucial, especially when there is no dearth of self-praising online and offline programs. For example, Baylor University has a good track record, with 90% of its nursing students receiving job offers upon graduation. Also, all clinical sites provided to ABSN students were located within a reasonable distance of their homes, with a maximum radius of 125 miles.
Coordinating Care Across Disciplines and Settings
As a nurse, you play a critical role in coordinating care across different healthcare disciplines and settings to ensure that your patients receive the best possible care. To do this, you should focus on involving other healthcare professionals in patient care so that it’s easier to create a comprehensive care plan that can cater to the different needs of your patients.
In palliative care settings, the coordination of care is especially significant, as patients often have complex medical conditions that require a team-based approach to treatment. As a nurse, you may need to communicate with family members and caregivers to ensure that they are informed about their loved one’s condition and are able to provide the necessary support and care.
Providing coordinating and interdisciplinary care isn’t as difficult as it seems. Nurses have many models and concepts at their disposal that can help them develop a tailored and coordinated plans for needy patients.
One such concept is “Total Pain” which was developed by Dame Cicely Saunders, the founder of the modern hospice movement and palliative care, and highlights the multidimensional experience of suffering associated with serious illnesses. The four domains of Total Pain – physical, emotional, social, and spiritual – emphasize the need for a comprehensive approach to care in palliative settings.
As a nurse, you play a crucial role in coordinating care across different healthcare disciplines and settings to ensure that your patients receive holistic care that addresses all aspects of their pain and suffering. This involves working collaboratively with other healthcare professionals, such as physicians, social workers, chaplains, and complementary therapists, to provide interdisciplinary team-based care. This comprehensive approach remains fundamental to the practice of palliative care today.
By working collaboratively with other healthcare professionals and actively involving patients and their families in the care process, nurses can help to improve the quality of care and quality of life for patients in palliative care settings.
Advancing Palliative Care Research and Practice
As a nurse, you play an essential role in improving patient care in palliative settings. Through the progression of research and practice in palliative care, it is possible to reduce suffering and enhance the standard of living for patients struggling with severe illnesses.
You can advocate for palliative care within your healthcare organization. By educating colleagues and administrators about the benefits of palliative care, you can help ensure that it is integrated into the care of seriously ill patients. You can also encourage the development of palliative care teams and programs within your institution and work to promote access to palliative care for all patients who could benefit.
Moreover, you can participate in research studies that focus on the advancement of palliative care. By contributing to the development and evaluation of new interventions, you can help identify effective approaches to symptom management, communication, and end-of-life care. You can also help to build the evidence base for palliative care, which is critical for expanding access to these services and improving the quality of care provided.
You should focus on offering hands-on patient care that is influenced by the principles of palliative care. By using a patient-centered approach that addresses physical, psychological, and spiritual needs, you can help patients and their families cope with the challenges of serious illness.
The significance of research and practice in palliative care can be supported by the increasing number of hospitals integrated with these programs. Such an increase not only necessitates quality patient care but also calls for a science-backed approach and practice that deliver care with accuracy.
A 2022 report released by the Center to Advance Palliative Care revealed a remarkable development in palliative care programs in healthcare organizations. The report shows that since 2000, the percentage of hospitals with 50 or more beds that have implemented palliative care programs has increased by more than three times. In 2020, only 25% of hospitals (658) reported having such programs. However, in 2022, this number increased to 83%, which equates to 1,686 hospitals.
These findings highlight the importance of advancing palliative care research and practice to improve patient care in serious illness settings. With the increasing number of hospitals incorporating palliative care programs into their care delivery model, there is a need to ensure that these programs are informed by evidence-based research and best practices.
Final Thoughts
In palliative care settings, nurses provide physical, emotional, and spiritual support to patients and their families, help manage symptoms and pain, and ensure that patients receive the highest level of care possible.
Through their expertise and compassionate care, nurses are making a positive impact on the lives of patients and their loved ones during this challenging time.
How Nurses Are Improving Patient Care in Palliative Settings
Today, with a growing need for palliative care, the demand for healthcare professionals is proportionately increasing.
Nurses are among those healthcare professionals that aim to alleviate and stabilize the conditions of patients having palliative care needs. Nurses who work in palliative care settings are trained to provide compassionate and holistic care to patients and to support their families and loved ones.
In this blog post, we will explore some of the ways in which nurses are improving patient care in palliative settings and the key role they play in this critical area of healthcare.
Enhancing Patient Comfort and Dignity
As a nurse working in palliative care settings, one of your primary goals is to enhance patient comfort and dignity. This means that you need to be attuned to your patient’s needs and preferences and provide care in a way that is respectful, compassionate, and supportive.
One way to enhance patient comfort and dignity is to by making sure patients are pain-free. You can achieve this by providing appropriate pain management medications and therapies, such as massage or relaxation techniques. You can also help patients maintain their dignity by respecting their privacy, offering them choices about their care, and supporting them in maintaining their independence as much as possible.
By providing emotional support, you can help patients regain their lost dignity. Patients undergoing palliative care may be going through a variety of negative emotions. As a nurse, you can provide a listening ear, offer reassurance and comfort, and help patients and their families to navigate the complex emotional landscape of palliative care.
In order to enhance patient comfort and dignity in a palliative care setting, nurses can use established strategies or models. One such model is the Dignity Model (DM) developed by Chochinov, which has been shown to be effective in improving patients’ sense of dignity and addressing sources of psychosocial and spiritual distress.
This model encourages reflection on matters of personal importance and aims to provide comprehensive care that considers the physical, psychosocial, and spiritual sources of influence on a patient’s quality of life. By incorporating DM into their practice, nurses can help patients maintain their dignity and improve their overall comfort in the face of a serious illness or condition.
Providing Emotional and Spiritual Support
You will likely encounter patients and their families who are experiencing many negative emotions, including grief, sadness, etc. As a nurse, you can provide comfort and support to help them navigate these difficult emotions and find meaning and purpose in their experiences.
One way to provide emotional and spiritual support is to be a good listener. You can create a safe and supportive environment where patients and their families feel comfortable expressing their emotions and concerns.
As a nurse, you can also offer resources and referrals for these aspects. You can connect patients and their families with social workers, chaplains, or other support services in the community. By providing access to these resources, you can help patients and families find additional sources of support and care.
As the demand for palliative care continues to rise around the globe, it becomes more important to have abilities that can help patients in such settings to have better emotional and spiritual states.
According to WHO, over 50 million individuals require palliative care every year. Unfortunately, only 12% of those who require this care actually receive it. This figure is anticipated to rise due to the increasing aging population. Also, the majority of patients in need of palliative care reside in low- and middle-income nations, with almost 78% of these patients hailing from these regions as of 2021.
Such findings necessitate more nurses equipped with the necessary palliative care skills that can reduce, if not eliminate, the pain and suffering of the affected ones and their families.
The idea of being able to relieve the suffering of patients in difficult medical conditions can be very satisfying, even if you are not a nurse. Fortunately, it is quite possible to feel those satisfying emotions. In fact, there are options available for those who want to become a nurse in less time period, such as accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing (ABSN) programs.
However, selecting a reliable institution to enroll in an accelerated BSN program is crucial, especially when there is no dearth of self-praising online and offline programs. For example, Baylor University has a good track record, with 90% of its nursing students receiving job offers upon graduation. Also, all clinical sites provided to ABSN students were located within a reasonable distance of their homes, with a maximum radius of 125 miles.
Coordinating Care Across Disciplines and Settings
As a nurse, you play a critical role in coordinating care across different healthcare disciplines and settings to ensure that your patients receive the best possible care. To do this, you should focus on involving other healthcare professionals in patient care so that it’s easier to create a comprehensive care plan that can cater to the different needs of your patients.
In palliative care settings, the coordination of care is especially significant, as patients often have complex medical conditions that require a team-based approach to treatment. As a nurse, you may need to communicate with family members and caregivers to ensure that they are informed about their loved one’s condition and are able to provide the necessary support and care.
Providing coordinating and interdisciplinary care isn’t as difficult as it seems. Nurses have many models and concepts at their disposal that can help them develop a tailored and coordinated plans for needy patients.
One such concept is “Total Pain” which was developed by Dame Cicely Saunders, the founder of the modern hospice movement and palliative care, and highlights the multidimensional experience of suffering associated with serious illnesses. The four domains of Total Pain – physical, emotional, social, and spiritual – emphasize the need for a comprehensive approach to care in palliative settings.
As a nurse, you play a crucial role in coordinating care across different healthcare disciplines and settings to ensure that your patients receive holistic care that addresses all aspects of their pain and suffering. This involves working collaboratively with other healthcare professionals, such as physicians, social workers, chaplains, and complementary therapists, to provide interdisciplinary team-based care. This comprehensive approach remains fundamental to the practice of palliative care today.
By working collaboratively with other healthcare professionals and actively involving patients and their families in the care process, nurses can help to improve the quality of care and quality of life for patients in palliative care settings.
Advancing Palliative Care Research and Practice
As a nurse, you play an essential role in improving patient care in palliative settings. Through the progression of research and practice in palliative care, it is possible to reduce suffering and enhance the standard of living for patients struggling with severe illnesses.
You can advocate for palliative care within your healthcare organization. By educating colleagues and administrators about the benefits of palliative care, you can help ensure that it is integrated into the care of seriously ill patients. You can also encourage the development of palliative care teams and programs within your institution and work to promote access to palliative care for all patients who could benefit.
Moreover, you can participate in research studies that focus on the advancement of palliative care. By contributing to the development and evaluation of new interventions, you can help identify effective approaches to symptom management, communication, and end-of-life care. You can also help to build the evidence base for palliative care, which is critical for expanding access to these services and improving the quality of care provided.
You should focus on offering hands-on patient care that is influenced by the principles of palliative care. By using a patient-centered approach that addresses physical, psychological, and spiritual needs, you can help patients and their families cope with the challenges of serious illness.
The significance of research and practice in palliative care can be supported by the increasing number of hospitals integrated with these programs. Such an increase not only necessitates quality patient care but also calls for a science-backed approach and practice that deliver care with accuracy.
A 2022 report released by the Center to Advance Palliative Care revealed a remarkable development in palliative care programs in healthcare organizations. The report shows that since 2000, the percentage of hospitals with 50 or more beds that have implemented palliative care programs has increased by more than three times. In 2020, only 25% of hospitals (658) reported having such programs. However, in 2022, this number increased to 83%, which equates to 1,686 hospitals.
These findings highlight the importance of advancing palliative care research and practice to improve patient care in serious illness settings. With the increasing number of hospitals incorporating palliative care programs into their care delivery model, there is a need to ensure that these programs are informed by evidence-based research and best practices.
Final Thoughts
In palliative care settings, nurses provide physical, emotional, and spiritual support to patients and their families, help manage symptoms and pain, and ensure that patients receive the highest level of care possible.
Through their expertise and compassionate care, nurses are making a positive impact on the lives of patients and their loved ones during this challenging time.
