Palliative Approach and Care as Nursing Strategy

This essay discusses the palliative approach and care for patients suffering from serious illnesses. It provides evidence-based strategies to manage the disease of Mrs. Brown and emphasizes the importance of psychological support and communication skills in nursing care.

Running head: PALLIATIVE APPROACH AND CARE AS NURSING STRATEGY
PALLIATIVE APPROACH AND CARE AS NURSING STRATEGY
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Introduction
The essay focus on palliative approach and care for patient suffering from serious ill
diseases. The following essay shows the different strategies opted by nurse to deal with the
patient who is suffering from CPOD. Palliative approach emphasis on providing assistance to
person with progressive illness or person who is at end of their lives (Grubbs, et al., 2014). This
care involves the psychological support to the patients and their families regarding the disease
they are facing (Barnett, Williams & Tucker, 2016). Palliative care does not only include the
scientific knowledge about the issue of patients and concept of death and dying, but it also
requires to have some skills that can be used to relieve pains and stress of patients (Holloway at
al., 2014).
Evidence based strategy to manage the disease of Mrs. Brown
Nurse and midwives are the ones who are engaged in care of Patients. They are involved
in giving palliative caring to different patients suffering from lethal disease. However, for some
nurses, it is problematic to deal with patient’s family and with patients themselves as they may
feel lack of confidence in communicating them. In the situation of Mrs. Brown, his responsibility
is big issue because she is a 62-year-old lady. Initially, she was suffering from acute
breathlessness but as time passed her condition got worse. Due to her ill health she was admitted
to hospital three time where she was diagnosed with CPOD. It was all of sudden drastic fall of
life for her. She has not planned anything for her future actions, so she consulted her General
Practitioner about the issue she is facing. General practitioner suggested her to go for palliative
approach as she was also previously analyzed with depression and anxiety. Currently, she is

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suffering from severe cough and breathlessness. She needs palliative care which comprises
frequent observation of her health and psychological support.
To deal with the issue of Mrs. Brown, holistic approach of palliative care is applied to
contradict the problem which includes physical care, psychological and emotional support.
Patients with CPOD needs treatment that centre on physical symptoms and emotional behavior
of patient, it should be noted that nurse majorly emphasis on improving the quality of life of
patients as well their family in addition to their physical problems.
According to the situation of Mrs. Brown, nurses were supposed to give palliative care. It
was a concerning topic about the status of her which was getting worse day by day. It arises a
feeling of pity on her condition. However, as nurse they have to try their best to rescue her.
The first nursing strategy to help her is to deal with issue of breathlessness and cough
through both medical as well as non-medical assistance is to be given to her. Firstly, it is
essential to talk to Mrs. Brown about her health and complication and accordingly prepare a
proper plan for her palliative care which will keep all the record about her conditions. It is
important to start the process with a conversion with her about the care that to be given and the
future consequence she might undergo. It is important for her to know her current situation and
how she is improving. Nurse should talk about end-life case to Mrs. Brown as this will help her
to cope with the situation.
For nurse, it is significant to initially analyses her condition and state. The skill of health
professional to identify the current situation of Mrs. Brown and type of palliative care given to
her depends on her symptoms, how she deals with her everyday situation and how it is affecting
her mentally. It is known that patient undergoing with CPOD had adverse effect. Little exertion

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outcomes in choking situation and breathlessness. Thus, this badly affected her role in the
family. She also had panic attack because of her condition. After seeing her illness, nurses can
sense her atmosphere well and can respond to her situation by applying holistic approach of
palliative care.
One of the palliative approaches for care is to manage the symptoms and pain of patients
(WHO, 2014). For this, Nurse should have complete knowledge about the disease and skills to
deal with symptoms efficiently. This strategy helps patients in pain to recover soon. One day
Mrs. Brown had symptoms of cor-pulmonale, low BP, low CVP and high temperature, which is
a significant complication in CPOD disease as it was recognised that Mrs. Brown shows signs of
right-sided heart failure. In this situation, nurses should record her oxygen saturation level, keep
check on her symptoms. As a consequence, oxygen therapy should be followed with analysis of
blood gas. It is the responsibility of nurses to inform Doctor about her condition. It will help her
to recover from her painful situation.
The second nursing strategy for giving palliative care involves psychological support,
communication and counselling skills that to be done with patients suffering from any particular
disease or long term illness (Adams, Mannix & Harrington,2017). Such person develops a
different mindset and thinks they are not going to get cured, which ultimately results in anxiety
and give panic attack. Hence, for nurse it is important to have good communication skill.
Conversation with the patients and their family about the disease and illness make them
psychologically relax and calm. This method will play significant role to improve the quality of
life of patients as well as help family to cope with the patient’s illness.
Looking into the case of Mrs. Brown, which gives details about her health problems
where she explained about her worries that she had no future plan for her care and her disease

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will make her burden in her family. Pondering on her story, it can be said that she is in
depression and caused her to give panic attacks. She was also poorly nourished which need some
consideration. Accordingly, psychological approach will be adequate to deal with her problem.
Conversation and discussion with Mrs. Brown will show some way to manage her panic attack.
She should keep herself in oxygenated environment and always use salbutamol inhaler when she
experiences anxiety. It is essential to explain her the way to cope with such situation and to
become mentally healthy to live long and happily. Mrs. Brown should do breathing exercise and
keep herself tension free. This guidance will dramatically improve the mental health of Mrs.
Brown.
Caring for Mrs. Brown can give tremendous experience regarding palliative care as it is
stated in nursing theory that critical thinking is essential constituent of professional responsibility
and nursing care (Martyn et al., 2014). In nursing exercise, critical thinker can analyze, give
logical reason and has communication skill. In ailment of Mrs. Brown, nurses will get to know
about the areas where they lack knowledge and will help to work on those fields. It is believing
that in coming time, they can give much better palliative care to other patients.
Conclusion
Lastly, from the above discussion on case study of Mrs. Brown in palliative care
approach, it can be concluded by saying that palliative approach and care plays a huge role for
patients undergoing with painful situation both physically and psychologically. This approach
helps the patient’s family to cope with the situation. Therefore, this intends to improve the
quality of life of both patients and family. After handling case of Mrs. Brown, nurses may feel
enhancement of their knowledge in palliative care. Nursing and another professional in health

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care must have the ability to communicate well with patients and families. Regardless of how
bad the situation is for patients, it should be handled in professional way with sensitivity.

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References
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