An Introduction to Hospice and Palliative Care

An Introduction in the
Palliative Care

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
BACKGROUND OF PAIN MANAGEMENT...............................................................................3
PALLATIVE MANAGEMENT FOR PAIN..................................................................................5
ROLE OF SUPPORTIVE INTERVENTIONS IN PALLATIVE MANAGEMENT FOR PAIN
MANAGEMENT.............................................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION
Palliative care is an interdisciplinary approach to specialized nursing and care for patient
suffering with life-limiting illness. End of life care aim at providing relief from pain, mental and
physical stress. This is the situation where illness cannot be cured and therefore palliative care is
provided to make service user comfortable against distressing symptoms (Droz and et.al., 2017).
This study will be focused on specific symptom of end of life care which is pain and it
will also evaluate how palliative management will help in managing the pain in individual. This
project will also critically evaluate the role of supporting nursing intervention in palliative
management. Pain management is chosen because this is the most common symptom which one
faces due to any disease or injury.
BACKGROUND OF PAIN MANAGEMENT
Pain is an emotional and unpleasant sensory experience faced by terminally ill patient.
Pain management is nursing priority in Palliative care where health care provider focuses on
managing physical and mental stress of patient. It has been evaluated that, approximately 11.2%
adults experience pain every year and nearly about 17.6% of the adults are experiencing severe
level of pain. Pain can be categorized into acute pain, chronic pain, soft tissue pain, nerve pain,
referred pain, neuropathic pain, phantom pain, breakthrough pain, bone pain, etc. Palliative care
is a specialized medical and nursing care for the people who are suffering from serious illness.
Palliative care helps in managing pain and various other symptoms in order to improve quality of
life of the patient suffering from pain. There are various characteristics related with pain which
includes moaning, whimpering, restlessness, agitation, facial grimacing, writhing, restlessness,
etc. Coyne, Mulvenon & Paice ( 2018) said that, assessing and measuring pain helps nurses in
evaluating the amount of pain the patient is suffering. Pain is highly subjective to the individual

and it is mental and physical in nature. The symptom is considered as nursing priority during
palliative management because it impacts the quality of life of patient. Altilio, Otis‐Green,
Hedlund & Fineberg (2019) established the fact that, there are various factors which worsen the
pain in individual. Age, medical conditions, gender, genes, support system, emotions, dealing
with pain, etc. are few prominent factors which worsen the pain condition. Pain sensation is one
of the most common factors among adults. Chronic pain may result in nausea, depression,
sleeping disorders, fatigue, etc. such pain can be caused due to chronic Rheumatoid arthritis,
fibromyalgia, osteoarthritis, multiple sclerosis, cancer, AIDS, stomach ulcer and gallbladder
disease. There are various symptoms related with pain which includes throbbing, dull ache,
squeezing, stiffness, stinging, burning, soreness, weakness, insomnia, mood swings, lack of
energy, etc.
Patient suffering from pain goes through chronic stress reaction which in turn leads to
increase in heart rate and blood pressure. This in turn results in various harmful health effects
and reduces the ability to fight against specific illness or disease. It adversely affect the
emotional and physical health of an individual which in turn leads to lack of energy, change in
appetite, limited ability for movement, tense muscles, depression, anxiety, anger, lack of
concentration, etc. when an individual is suffering from unrelenting pain, everyone in the family
are likely to suffer along with the one who is experiencing pain. Family goes through emotional
and bewildering process while watching the person suffering from pain, especially in the case
when there is no proper treatment for the particular illness or disease (Is pain affecting your
quality of life? Palliative care can help, 2016). Family members focus on giving immense
support and care to the individual who is experiencing pain.