Palliative services are an important aspect of management of terminal illnesses. It is designed to improve the quality of life for persons that have been diagnosed with conditions without a known cure. The most important thing to appreciate is that it seeks to manage a patient as a whole individual rather than merely focusing on the illness they are suffering from. There are a number of things on palliative care in Tulsa one may wish to know if they want to benefit from this service.
Cure is usually out of the picture so the rest of the treatment is directed at preventing and managing the side effects of the primary illness. The side effects may be emotional, physical, spiritual, spiritual or social. Palliative care can be provided at home or in the hospital depending on the nature of the illness. Patients and their relatives are also at liberty in deciding where they would wish to receive the care.
One of the commonest groups of diseases that requires this kind of care is cancer. Most malignant metastatic cancers are incurable. It is only humane that patients that have been diagnosed with these kinds of cancers receive proper end of life care even in their last days of life. Traumatic brain injury, chronic liver failure and end stage HIV/AIDS may also be considered for palliative services.
Due to the wide nature of services requires, teamwork is important. A multidisciplinary team comprising of various specialists is usually assembled depending on the underlying diagnosis. Each of these specialists has been trained and certified and is skilled in handling patients who fall in this category. Typically, the team is headed by a physician who helps in coordinating the other service providers. Other members may include other doctors, nurses, chaplains, dieticians and social workers among others.
Emotional needs are also very important and should also be addressed with the same vigour as physical needs. Some of the commonest emotional problems patient may have to deal with are anxiety, depression and psychological stress. The severity of the condition will vary from one patient to another and so the management is also individualized. It is important that emotional support be initiated as soon as a diagnosis has been made.
Physical needs are arguably the most pressing for a patient on palliation. They mainly include signs and symptoms related to the condition. The most common among these are pain, nausea, shortness of breath and vomiting. Every effort should be made to make the patient free of these symptoms. When managing pain, for instance, the strongest effective drug should be used regardless of whether or not It is addictive.
Relatives taking care of the patients often go under a lot of emotional stress. Some may also develop depression. For this reason, they also need to be counselled on ways of handling the challenge of sickness. It is important to appreciate that relatives will vary in the readiness to accept the certainty of death. Some will do so readily while others will struggle considerably.
Palliation is related to but is not the same as hospice services. Palliation is simply supportive treatment that a patient is accorded right from the time a diagnosis is made. Hospice services, on the other hand, are given principally as end of life care when cure for a particular disease is considered impossible. Both of them are, therefore, found on the continuum of care for chronic conditions.
Cure is usually out of the picture so the rest of the treatment is directed at preventing and managing the side effects of the primary illness. The side effects may be emotional, physical, spiritual, spiritual or social. Palliative care can be provided at home or in the hospital depending on the nature of the illness. Patients and their relatives are also at liberty in deciding where they would wish to receive the care.
One of the commonest groups of diseases that requires this kind of care is cancer. Most malignant metastatic cancers are incurable. It is only humane that patients that have been diagnosed with these kinds of cancers receive proper end of life care even in their last days of life. Traumatic brain injury, chronic liver failure and end stage HIV/AIDS may also be considered for palliative services.
Due to the wide nature of services requires, teamwork is important. A multidisciplinary team comprising of various specialists is usually assembled depending on the underlying diagnosis. Each of these specialists has been trained and certified and is skilled in handling patients who fall in this category. Typically, the team is headed by a physician who helps in coordinating the other service providers. Other members may include other doctors, nurses, chaplains, dieticians and social workers among others.
Emotional needs are also very important and should also be addressed with the same vigour as physical needs. Some of the commonest emotional problems patient may have to deal with are anxiety, depression and psychological stress. The severity of the condition will vary from one patient to another and so the management is also individualized. It is important that emotional support be initiated as soon as a diagnosis has been made.
Physical needs are arguably the most pressing for a patient on palliation. They mainly include signs and symptoms related to the condition. The most common among these are pain, nausea, shortness of breath and vomiting. Every effort should be made to make the patient free of these symptoms. When managing pain, for instance, the strongest effective drug should be used regardless of whether or not It is addictive.
Relatives taking care of the patients often go under a lot of emotional stress. Some may also develop depression. For this reason, they also need to be counselled on ways of handling the challenge of sickness. It is important to appreciate that relatives will vary in the readiness to accept the certainty of death. Some will do so readily while others will struggle considerably.
Palliation is related to but is not the same as hospice services. Palliation is simply supportive treatment that a patient is accorded right from the time a diagnosis is made. Hospice services, on the other hand, are given principally as end of life care when cure for a particular disease is considered impossible. Both of them are, therefore, found on the continuum of care for chronic conditions.
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You can find a summary of the factors that determine the cost of palliative care in Tulsa at http://www.millerhospicetulsa.com right now.
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