Palliative Care Practice: Improving Quality of Life for Patients and Families

Running head: PALLIATIVE CARE PRACTICE
PALLIATIVE CARE PRACTICE
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1PALLIATIVE CARE PRACTICE
Introduction
Quality of life of patients and their families can be improved by implementing a
palliative care approach. Patients experience physiological and psychological stress when
they are diagnosed with a life-threatening illness (Johnson, 2017). This can be prevented by
early stage diagnosis and nursing assessments by giving impeccable treatment to the patient
by promoting their mental well-being. Ethnicity, culture, and beliefs should be incorporated
for health care professionals to provide a holistic care to the patient as well as their family.
Patient-centred care is the main focus of the approach of palliative care (Murray et al., 2017).
This paper will discuss about three scenarios where palliative care approach has been
implemented in providing the patient and their family with the advanced care at the end of
their lives.
Discussion
Case Study 1
1. In the case study that has been provided, Betty has been suffering from stage 3
Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) for the past three years. She had revealed to her renal
specialist that she is also suffering from hypertension and type 2 diabetes. Although,
even after the diagnosis, Betty was unaware of the severity of her kidney with a
patient-specific diet and appropriate medicines. She has been happy by the care that
she was provided with in the initial stages but what makes her worried is the onset of
new symptoms that she has been experiencing lately. She is constantly feeling tired
with irregular bouts of nausea with her legs experiencing oedema (Romagnani et al.,
2017). Betty was planning on sharing the symptoms to her renal specialist and the
probable treatment that she will be offered with. The collaborative team that will be
looking after Betty should plan a care strategy that is specific to Betty by giving

2PALLIATIVE CARE PRACTICE
necessary information about the treatment. It has been observed that patients who
suffer from type 2 diabetes, peripheral vascular disease and ischemic heart disease
experience nausea and shortness of breath (Thomas, Cooper & Zimmet, 2016). Betty
has been suffering from all these illnesses in addition to her CKD. It can be assumed
by her symptoms that the kidney functioning has deteriorated which cause her legs to
swell and experience oedema. Swelling results from the inability of the blood to flow
in that area. It is a major symptom in case of stage 5 of Chronic Kidney Disease.
2. In the last stages of the illness that has been observed in Betty, there is not anything
left for the nurses and the GP to do except for ensuring that the patient has a peaceful
end of her life. After a while of experiencing the symptoms, Betty was bedridden
which made her unable to travel to the clinic to her doctor. It is for this reason that,
Leanne, one of the team members, with the GP and team providing palliative care,
arrive at her place. Multiple issues like uremia, nausea, anaemia, extreme pruritus
with also the trouble of swallowing the tablets have made the team to arrive at her
place and plan a case conference to ensure peaceful passing away of Betty. The team
ensured that her husband, her daughter and her beloved grandchildren were all present
during her final days.
Case study 2
1. Health disparity has been a major issue that is faced by patients from a different
ethnic background than the nurse. Equal treatment of the patients is not achieved
because of the discrimination of different culture or race or color. The health care
professionals are more focused on providing optimum care to patients belonging to a
similar background like theirs (Eh et al., 2016). This way, patient-centered care is not
achieved and the patient leaves dissatisfied with the treatment that is provided.