A Report on Social and Emotional Well-being in Palliative Care

This report addresses the social and emotional well-being of palliative care patients and the emotional distress experienced by palliative care nursing professionals. It highlights the importance of self-care for nurses to combat compassion fatigue, stress, and depression, suggesting strategies such as meditation, motivational videos, and recognition programs to promote resilience and mental health. The report also emphasizes the role of physical health, including regular exercise, proper diet, and adequate sleep, in fostering emotional stability. Furthermore, it underscores the significance of social well-being, advocating for support from nurse managers, community health nurses, and organizational rewards to motivate and acknowledge the work of palliative care nurses. The report also identifies support networks like community health nursing and motivational therapists. The provided assignment brief outlines tasks related to patient communication, ethical considerations, debriefing, and self-care strategies for end-of-life care scenarios.

Distress among Palliative Care Nursing
Professionals
•Palliative care professionals though highly trained for
caring patients, they receive little training in caring for
themselves
•Lack of proper self-care generates compassion fatigue,
stress and depression among the palliative care
professionals creating emotional distress
•Emotional distress hampers mental and physical
wellbeing
•Self-care deals with self-caring behaviour in order to
promote health and well-being
•(Mills, Wand & Fraser, 2017)
Emotional well-being through Physical health
•Emotional care starts with healthy lifestyle
•Healthy lifestyle is defined by physical self-care
strategies: engaging in regular physical activity,
following proper dietary guidelines and getting adequate
sleep at night
•Having a healthy life and healthy lifestyle helps to
remain physically fit which is reflected in the emotional
stability for example a physically fit nursing
professionals is less likely to suffer from frequent
exhaustion of fatigue
(Aranda, 2016)
The main support networks for physical fitness
1. Preparation of roster with acceptable duty timings and
duration by nurse manager
2. Physical fitness trainer: Educating the nurses about
free hand exercises important for health
3. Dietician: For the training the palliative care patients
about the healthy dietary habits both during and after the
hours
(Australian College of Nursing, 2019).
Student Names and ID
Additional support networks
•The social support networks for the palliative care
nurses include:
•Community health nursing by the Australian Primary
Healthcare Nurses Association
•Motivational therapists working under NGOs
References
•Aranda, S. (2016). Framing palliative care. In Palliative Care Nursing (pp. 3-5).
Routledge.
•Ausmed Education PTY LTD Australia. (2017). Nurses and Emotional Wellness.
Access date: 11th March 2019. Retrieved
from:https://www.ausmed.com/cpd/articles/emotional-wellness
•Australian College of Nursing. (2019) ACN launches nurse health and wellbeing
campaign. Access date: 11th March. Retrieved from:
https://www.acn.edu.au/publications/media-release/acn-launches-nurse-health-and-
wellbeing-campaign
•Katz, R. S., & Johnson, T. A. (Eds.). (2016). When professionals weep: Emotional
and countertransference responses in palliative and end-of-life care. Routledge.
•Mededwebs. (2019). 7 Ways to Improve Well-Being Among Nurses. Access date:
11th March 2019. Retrieved from:
https://www.mededwebs.com/blog/well-being-index/7-ways-to-improve-well-being-
among-nurses
.
Emotional Well-being through Promotion of
Resilience
•Increase in the resilience helps to overcome job burn-
out and compassion fatigue among the palliative care
professionals
•The practice of meditation will help to increase
resilience and thereby helping to improve the mental
health
•Watching entertaining or motivating short videos in
between the shift hours will help to improve the mental
health and emotional well-being by creating a provision
for refreshments
•Awards and recognition can also act as an important
source of motivation helping to improve the emotional
well-being
•The nurse manager and the hospital authority are the
main concerned authority for improving emotional well-
being of the palliative care nurses
(Ausmed Education PTY LTD Australia, 2017)
Social well-being promotion
•Social well-being is one of the important aspects of
health
•Proper support from the nurse manager, community
health nurses are important to promote social well-being
among the palliative care nurses (Mededwebs, 2019)
The support from the society and from the
organization will come in the form of rewards and
recognition
1. Weekly achievement or Quality work awards
2. Giving monthly recognition after the end of the
monthly roster like round of applaud or enlisted in the
name under the hall of fame
3. Providing monthly incentives for additional efforts
4. Giving social acknowledgement by hosting bi-annual
awareness campaign in order to educate the society
about the importance of the palliative care nurse
Getting social recognition and respect for the work will
help to keep the palliative care nurses motivated in
workplace
(Katz & Johnson, 2016)
Social and Emotional Well-being of Palliative care Patients