Step 7: Ensure Consistency Among Caregivers
Step 7
Ensure consistency among caregivers
Once the goals of care have shifted from cure to comfort, it is essential that all caregivers are aware of end of life care plan that has been made for the patient. This will avoid any unnecessary therapeutic interventions and make the team focus on comfort measure and family support and have consistency in communication with the family. The focus should be on keeping the patient pain free and comfortable at all times.
The primary physician should address all the members of the team about the discussion; modality of end of life care planned for the patient and shared decision made with the family.
Clear documentation of the plan will help in communicating with other members of the team who are not …show more content…
Comfort of the patient and family is paramount (e.g., noise levels, lighting, temperature) Remove unnecessary equipment and bring additional chairs into the room, if required.
1. Prepare the patient
a. Position the patient comfortably
b. Stop unnecessary monitoring (e.g. Oximetry), unnecessary devices (e.g. feeding tubes), unnecessary tests (e.g., blood investigations), and discontinue medications that do not provide comfort and provide those that do.
c. Ensure that the patient is calm and distress-free before and while withholding or withdrawing support.
2. Family – Make visiting restrictions liberal (e.g. number of visitors, timing and duration). Honour requests for cultural and religious rituals. Caregivers could mitigate the stress of the family by discussing what is likely to happen during the dying process.
Step 9
Effective and compassionate palliative care to patient and appropriate support to the family
Provision of compassionate care at end of life is not mere control of physical symptoms, but involves respecting patient choices on preferred place of care and managing non-physical issues such as psychological, emotional, spiritual and existential
Ensure consistency among caregivers
Once the goals of care have shifted from cure to comfort, it is essential that all caregivers are aware of end of life care plan that has been made for the patient. This will avoid any unnecessary therapeutic interventions and make the team focus on comfort measure and family support and have consistency in communication with the family. The focus should be on keeping the patient pain free and comfortable at all times.
The primary physician should address all the members of the team about the discussion; modality of end of life care planned for the patient and shared decision made with the family.
Clear documentation of the plan will help in communicating with other members of the team who are not …show more content…
Comfort of the patient and family is paramount (e.g., noise levels, lighting, temperature) Remove unnecessary equipment and bring additional chairs into the room, if required.
1. Prepare the patient
a. Position the patient comfortably
b. Stop unnecessary monitoring (e.g. Oximetry), unnecessary devices (e.g. feeding tubes), unnecessary tests (e.g., blood investigations), and discontinue medications that do not provide comfort and provide those that do.
c. Ensure that the patient is calm and distress-free before and while withholding or withdrawing support.
2. Family – Make visiting restrictions liberal (e.g. number of visitors, timing and duration). Honour requests for cultural and religious rituals. Caregivers could mitigate the stress of the family by discussing what is likely to happen during the dying process.
Step 9
Effective and compassionate palliative care to patient and appropriate support to the family
Provision of compassionate care at end of life is not mere control of physical symptoms, but involves respecting patient choices on preferred place of care and managing non-physical issues such as psychological, emotional, spiritual and existential