Role of Multidisciplinary Teams in Providing Palliative Care: A Case Study

This report highlights the role of multidisciplinary teams in providing palliative care in a holistic manner in which the patient’s wish and comfort are taken into consideration with priority and they are subjected to a Medicare plan which helps them recover from symptoms ruining their life in the most efficient way possible.

Short answer case
study

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION .....................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY ............................................................................................................................3
Delivery of comprehensive care............................................................................................3
Strategies for families and carers ..........................................................................................4
Providing coordinated and integrated palliative care............................................................6
CONCLUSION .........................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES ..........................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Even though the amenities and modern medical progress that has been made by
Science is nothing short of a miracle, there are still many serious diseases that afflict millions
daily where cure might be available but not without devastating consequences. The field of
medical care has also taken quite a stellar leap as many different types and methods to engage
with patients have emerged over the last few years. Since the exposure to critical and chronic
diseases has increased drastically, the field of palliative care has emerged as a major field of
helping patients as it is related to providing pain, stress and symptom related relief to such
patients (Arias-Casais and et.al., 2019). This report will highlight the role of
multidisciplinary teams in providing palliative care in a holistic manner in which the patient’s
wish and comfort are taken into consideration with priority and they are subjected to a
Medicare plan which helps them recover from symptoms ruining their life in the most
efficient way possible.
MAIN BODY
Delivery of comprehensive care
One of the most major aspects of palliative care which separates it from other more
commonly seen forms of patient engagement and treatment options is that instead of focusing
on the symptoms and diagnosis of patients, it takes into account their situation and wishes
instead. According to the case study presented in this report, Jagger wishes to return home
but at the same time he is worried about the toll his advanced cancer has been taking on his
wife’s mental health and does not want to burden her which is why he admitted to getting
shifted to the hospital in the first place. The multidisciplinary team which is in charge of
providing him with palliative healthcare should develop an effective plan where each
personnel comprising in his palliative care ensures his safe discharge from the hospital ward
to provide him world class treatment at home without burdening his wife. This
aforementioned plan will be developed by the multidisciplinary team after thorough
discussion and proper standards of collaboration among different members of the team. The
first major step which must be taken by team responsible for the palliative care is to honour
the wishes of the patient and take him home (Lancet, 2020). This task will be managed by
the specialist doctors such as oncologists, general practitioners along with trained nurses as
stage 4 colon cancer is a critical disease which has a 5 year relative survival rate of about
14%. By properly consulting with the patient regarding his choice of future treatment and

analysing his past battles with bowel cancer, a proper methodology can be prepared by the
oncologist which can then be used to recommended proper medications and self-care
practices at home which will be handles by the general practitioner post discharge.
When it comes to planning his trip back home, once again his wishes must be
respected and the situation of both him and his wife must be dealt with in an ethical and
efficient manner. Since stage 4 cancer severely limits body movement and leads to extreme
weakness and pain, specialized nurses and carers will have to should to give Jagger home
care which satisfies all the wishes of the patient as he wants no future treatments, would like
to go home and also wants his wife to not burden herself with his condition. The
multidisciplinary team should engage in healthy planning sessions focusing on concepts such
as Advance care planning as Jagger is suffering from a disease which can severely shorten his
life span should he continue to only receive prevention care at home rather than going for
treatment such as chemotherapy and radiation (Parola and et.al., 2018). The advanced
care planning routine which will be administered to Jagger at his home by medical personnel
and nurses must be planned out so he remains stable without his wife worrying much. There
should be interventions made by his general practitioner daily and the nurse or carer should
plan out his nutrition along with maintenance of his electrolyte and fluid balance which is
often off balance in patients suffering from cancer which has spread to other parts of their
body.
Strategies for families and carers
The entire premise of the given case study has been focused on Jagger getting
admitted due to seeing the mental toll that his canCalibri Lightcer resurfacing again has taken
on his wife, Mrs Jagger and for the entire team of professionals responsible for his discharge
and giving him proper palliative care at his him must make sure that the women is supported
as frequently sas possible and has to take as little personal care of his husband as possible.
Mrs Jagger can be supported at the time of providing end of life care within her home
through the support of pallative care which can provide home services such as nursing
homes, medicare, medicaid as well as insurance policies may cover palliative care (Swami
and Case, 2018). Another approach through which Mrs Jagger can get support at time of
providing end of life through hospice care which concentrates on the comfort, care as well as
quality of life of an individual with a serious illness who is pursuing end of life. It may not be
possible in order to cure a serious illness or the personality may opt not to undergo the
specific treatments. Therefore, Hospice is designed for this.

The two different strategies in order to support the families as well as carers who are
providing the end of life care includes Emotional Support Services and Respite Care. The
explanation of these strategies is given as under:
 Emotional Support Services: Advanced levels of emotional support services consist
of sitting along with the patients as well as offering opportunities to them so that they
can feel accompanied within the time of their struggle. Directly answering the
questions asked by them, makimg the patient feel special and creating supportive
gestures are all included in such kimd of suppoirt service which can help Mrs Jagger.
The main disadvantage of this kind of support service is that there can be a barrier
related to effective communication. Lack of preparation on part of treating MD before
meeting with patient or its family are also negative aspects of this support service.
 Respite Care: This kind of support service refers to short term care that is provided
to a hospice patient by the another caregiver so that a friend or a family member who
is the caregiver of the patient can take time off or rest (Wolf and et.al., 2019). In
context to present scenario, respite care was created for allowing the caregivers time
away from managing the acre with an ain of facilitating in norder to relieve caregiver
stress as well as at the same time, satisfy the requirements and needs of Mrs Jagger
who is recieving care. The negative aspect of this kind of strategy is that it has
concerns regarding letting a stranger care for an individual who is loved one for
somebody. The main disadvantage is that it may be challengimng to find highly rated,
reliable home care and it is not usual for the same respite caregivers to come to the
home of its client on a daily basis.

Providing coordinated and integrated palliative care
The integrated palliative approach to the care gives some of the principle aspects of
the palliative care within proper times during the illness of a person and it concentrates on the
sensitive and open communication regarding prognosis and illness of a person, advance care
plans, psychological as well as spiritual assistance. There are various ways through which
Mrs Jagger can provided coordinated and integrated pallaitive care and one of the main
approach is of providing emotional care as the respective patient who is living with a terminal
illness is experiencing a lot of difficult stages. The patient as well as the people who are close
to him might experience emotional distress but there are a lot of ways through which it can
get supported. The emotions that are felt by the patient include helplessness, regret,
frustration, loneliness and many more and all these feelings can be difficult to lice with. With
the help of this support service, Mrs Jagger may feel more accepting over time as it come to
terms with their illness but it is common for these feelings to become stronger when its
family or relatives is approaching it in the end days of its life. By encouraging the respective
patient to think regarding how it want to cared for will help it in feeling more in control and
assisting others in the process of understanding that what is important for it.
CONCLUSION
From above explanation of the report, it has been concluded that palliative care
provide assistance in improving the quality of the life of the patient and that of its family who
is facing the challenges that are associated wit the illness of life-threatening. Within this
report, there has been an explanation regarding the dlivery of comprehensive care to a person
who wants to return home along with the role of the multidisciplinary team. Moreover, it has
also included different strategies to the support carers as well as the families who are giving
end of life care. Furthermore, this report has also been included the ways forproviding
coordinated, integrated pallaitive care that help the patient at the end of life care.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Arias-Casais and et.al., 2019. EAPC atlas of palliative care in Europe. Romania, 122, 0-6.
Lancet, 2020. Palliative care and the COVID-19 pandemic. Lancet (London,
England), 395(10231), 1168.
Parola and et.al., 2018. Caring in palliative care: A phenomenological study of nurses’ lived
experiences. Journal of Hospice & Palliative Nursing, 20(2), 180-186.
Swami, M., & Case, A. A. 2018. Effective palliative care: what is involved?. Oncology
(08909091), 32(4).
Jiang, Q., Lu, Y., Ying, Y., & Zhao, H. (2019). Attitudes and knowledge of
undergraduate nursing students about palliative care: An analysis of influencing
factors. Nurse Education Today, 80, 15-21.
Wolf and et.al., 2019. Palliative care and moral distress: an institutional survey of critical care
nurses. Critical care nurse, 39(5), 38-49.