Nursing Assignment: Palliative Care Approach and Care Priorities

Running head: NURSING ASSIGNMENT
NURSING ASSIGNMENT
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

1NURSING ASSIGNMENT
Introduction:
The palliative care approach intends to improve the quality of life of the patients as
well as their family members who suffer from a limiting or life-threatening illness (Hui et al.,
2013). The palliative care approach offers support by envisioning relief from the painful
symptoms and making appropriate physical, psychosocial as well as spiritual support
resources available (Kelley & Morrison, 2015). The palliative care approach offers support to
the family members so as to enable to cope with the disease burden of the patient (World
Health Organization, 2014). In this paper, the case study of Mrs. Brown would be discussed
and accordingly two care priorities would be identified. Appropriate nursing strategies would
then be devised aligned to the care priorities so as to alleviate the quality of living of Mrs.
Brown as well as her family members.
Prioritizing care and devising appropriate intervention strategies:
The primary complaint of Mrs. Brown is her increased shortness of breath and
coughing symptoms. Mrs. Brown states that on account of her shortness of breath, she has not
been able to manage her activities of daily living. Also, it has resulted in her increased
dependence on her husband and she feels that she would soon become a burden for the
family. Further, she also states that she is exceedingly restricted to the bed and is extremely
fatigued. This clearly reveals that the physical health symptom has created a negative impact
on her and has deteriorated her quality of living. In addition to this, on account of her illness,
Mrs. Brown’s level of social interaction has also declined which has made her socially
withdrawn. Further, the case study also reveals that Mrs. Brown suffers from depression and
has never sought professional assistance for recovery. Therefore, on the basis of the case
study evaluation, the care priorities that can be identified would comprise of increased
shortness of breath and social isolation.

2NURSING ASSIGNMENT
The first care goal would therefore be to manage the symptom of shortness of breath.
The increase in the shortness of breath has resulted in limiting Mrs. Brown’s ability to
perform activities of daily living. The devised nursing goal would be achieved by the
application of appropriate nursing interventions to promote a clear airway passage. In
addition to this, the nursing goal would also comprise of demonstrating behaviours to
effectively improve airway by enhancing coughing and clearing expectorate sections. The
intervention strategy would include, assisting the patient to maintain a comfortable position.
This would be done by elevating the head of the bed and instructing the patient to lean
forward on an over-bed table or be seated at the edge of the bed. The rationale for the applied
nursing intervention can be explained as the promotion of effective respiratory function.
Research studies mention that forward positioning of the patient improves respiratory
function by making use of the gravity (Lainscak et al., 2013). Further, according to
Alexopoulos et al. (2013), forward positioning of the patient eases breathing. Also,
supporting the arms and legs with pillows helps in reducing muscle fatigue and promotes
better chest expansion. In addition to this, the patient would also be encouraged to perform
abdominal and pursed-breathing exercises. Research studies mention that pursed breathing
exercises effectively help in controlling abnormal breathing and at the same time
substantially reduced air-trapping (Alexopoulos et al., 2013; Lainscak et al., 2013). Upon
application of the discussed intervention strategies, the effectiveness of the strategies would
be evaluated so as to measure positive patient outcome. The evaluation would be done by
auscultating breath sounds and assessing the patient for air movement. This would be done in
order to measure the level of airway clearance. Also, the patient would be monitored for
ABG level and respiratory rate. A chest X- ray of the patient would also be conducted
(Alexopoulos et al., 2013). This would help in establishing a baseline for monitoring the level
of progress or deterioration of the disease and its associated complications.