All About Palliative Care
Cancer patients often go for pain-easing care services. This article focuses on the basic features of palliative care and the methods undertaken by the caregivers. He also provides a brief introduction to end-of-life care.
Although palliative care has been criticized over the years for being a kind of 'euthanasia', it is heavily in practice and is highly preferable by people who are suffering from chronic illness or other serious diseases. It is an area of healthcare which focuses on reducing and preventing the suffering of patients. It focuses on making the patients comfortable both mentally and physically. While some other forms of treatments strive to find the cure of a disease, palliative care only focuses on easing the pain and suffering of the patient.
Palliative care is provided by qualified medical practitioners and nurses, who work together with the family physician (if any) of the patient, thus providing an extra layer of support. It can be undertaken by anyone - from cancer patients suffering from nausea due to intense chemotherapy sessions, to patients suffering from the effects of morphine due to a broken leg. However, it is mostly the cancer patients who opt for this treatment. This treatment aims to improve their quality of life by managing physical concerns, supporting grief and depression, helping them to mediate, and solving various social issues.
The various methods undertaken by the caregivers are as follows:
•Basic Care - The most significant part of this treatment is basic life assistance and support. Nurses are, in most cases, provided for the patient. She will be the one responsible for maintaining the hygiene of the patient. It is also her duty to provide the patient with the necessary food and fluids, escort the patient to and from places such as the bathroom, and look after his/her general well-being.
•Treating Existing Pain - From medication to meditation, the caregivers offer various pain management strategies to the people who already are suffering from some kind of pains and related trauma. They even plan diet charts to cope up with chemotherapy side-effects like mouth ulcers.
•Preventing New Pain - The caregivers make sure that new problems are not given the chance to arise. Thorough discussions are held with the patient and his/her family to ensure that the patient is more comfortable.
•Counseling - Some patients get anxious about losing hair due to chemotherapy or go into depression due to the fear of losing friends or family members who have distanced themselves after the cancer had been diagnosed. To overcome these situations, palliative care generally includes for counseling or inspirational sessions. Frequent counseling classes result in less depression and a better quality of life.
Palliative care consists of end-of-life care, but also involves a greater field of work. While palliative care is about caring to improve the quality of life of patients suffering from life-limiting or life-threatening illness, end-of-life care is about caring in the last few days or months of life of patients. The works of the end-of-life care service providers [http://www.cladacare-providers.com/our-services/] include keeping the patients stress-free and comfortable, allowing them to make their own decisions, and informing them on regular intervals about the status of their health. Only then, the patient will find the zeal to live on his own terms and fight with his full strength.
Although palliative care has been criticized over the years for being a kind of 'euthanasia', it is heavily in practice and is highly preferable by people who are suffering from chronic illness or other serious diseases. It is an area of healthcare which focuses on reducing and preventing the suffering of patients. It focuses on making the patients comfortable both mentally and physically. While some other forms of treatments strive to find the cure of a disease, palliative care only focuses on easing the pain and suffering of the patient.
Palliative care is provided by qualified medical practitioners and nurses, who work together with the family physician (if any) of the patient, thus providing an extra layer of support. It can be undertaken by anyone - from cancer patients suffering from nausea due to intense chemotherapy sessions, to patients suffering from the effects of morphine due to a broken leg. However, it is mostly the cancer patients who opt for this treatment. This treatment aims to improve their quality of life by managing physical concerns, supporting grief and depression, helping them to mediate, and solving various social issues.
The various methods undertaken by the caregivers are as follows:
•Basic Care - The most significant part of this treatment is basic life assistance and support. Nurses are, in most cases, provided for the patient. She will be the one responsible for maintaining the hygiene of the patient. It is also her duty to provide the patient with the necessary food and fluids, escort the patient to and from places such as the bathroom, and look after his/her general well-being.
•Treating Existing Pain - From medication to meditation, the caregivers offer various pain management strategies to the people who already are suffering from some kind of pains and related trauma. They even plan diet charts to cope up with chemotherapy side-effects like mouth ulcers.
•Preventing New Pain - The caregivers make sure that new problems are not given the chance to arise. Thorough discussions are held with the patient and his/her family to ensure that the patient is more comfortable.
•Counseling - Some patients get anxious about losing hair due to chemotherapy or go into depression due to the fear of losing friends or family members who have distanced themselves after the cancer had been diagnosed. To overcome these situations, palliative care generally includes for counseling or inspirational sessions. Frequent counseling classes result in less depression and a better quality of life.
Palliative care consists of end-of-life care, but also involves a greater field of work. While palliative care is about caring to improve the quality of life of patients suffering from life-limiting or life-threatening illness, end-of-life care is about caring in the last few days or months of life of patients. The works of the end-of-life care service providers [http://www.cladacare-providers.com/our-services/] include keeping the patients stress-free and comfortable, allowing them to make their own decisions, and informing them on regular intervals about the status of their health. Only then, the patient will find the zeal to live on his own terms and fight with his full strength.
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