For people that have been diagnosed with terminal illness, there are few stages of palliative care. These are Physical, Social, Emotional, Spiritual, and Spiritual Support. Understanding these few stages can help you to deal with your own or someone else’s pain and suffering.
Physical
Palliative care is provided to patients with serious illnesses and is designed to improve quality of life. It provides patients with emotional, psychological, spiritual and physical support.
Palliative care providers focus on the patient’s needs and values. They work with the family to develop a plan that helps manage symptoms and improve quality of life. In some cases, palliative care is given alongside curative care.
If a person is diagnosed with a terminal illness, comfort care may be limited. This is because the disease is not expected to be cured. A palliative care team may provide medical interventions that enhance the patient’s quality of life, reduce symptom burden, and assist with pain management.
Many people with cancer and other chronic diseases require palliative care. These treatments include medication, equipment, and home aide visits. Some insurance plans cover these services.
End-of-life care is a special type of palliative care that supports patients and families during bereavement. Palliative care providers work with the patient’s primary care physician and caregivers to ensure that the patient and family receive quality care during the time of bereavement. The bereavement program may last for months.
Patients with terminal illnesses may also need emotional support. Often, patients make requests for relief from their physical or psychosocial symptoms. Depression is a common issue in patients who are making these requests. Fortunately, depression can respond to appropriate care.
Hospice care is an important part of palliative care. It includes emotional support, pain management, and management of social, psychological, and spiritual issues.
In general, palliative care is helpful for people at any stage of their illness. Early use of this kind of care can improve the quality of life for patients and even increase survival. However, it is especially helpful for those who are at the end of their lives.
There are many different types of palliative care. A specialist in palliative medicine is a physician with advanced training in the field. Other professionals who provide this type of care include nurses, occupational therapists, psychologists, and social workers.
Palliative care is available for patients of all ages, races, and ethnicities. Typically, it is provided in the patient’s home.
Emotional
The goal of this study was to investigate the types, frequency, and responses to emotional distress in palliative care (PC) consultations. A quantitative descriptive approach was used to analyze 71 audio-recorded inpatient PC consultations.
Researchers found that the frequency of expressively expressed emotions in these conversations ranged from one to ten. Most of these expressions were moderate intensity. Some of the most common emotions were sadness, anxiety, and anger. Interestingly, patients were equally expressive of their own emotions and those of their loved ones.
Amongst the emotional needs documented in these records, the most frequently mentioned were psychological support, financial assistance, and family support. Rarely, patients were recommended psychiatric evaluation. This suggests that there may be a need for additional screening tools to produce clinically meaningful quality improvements.
Additionally, the study found that the documentation of emotional needs increased significantly after the use of a structured note template with an emotional assessment reminder prompt. This note template decreased the use of generic phrases in the electronic medical record and increased the rate of documenting emotional needs. Despite this, the template was not particularly meaningful in practice.
The study also revealed that the most frequent response to an emotionally distressed patient was compassion. Specifically, more than half of the most commonly encountered emotions related to the patient’s own feelings, including sadness, fear, and anxiety. However, there was little evidence that a more direct or compassionate response to a patient’s emotional distress could be accomplished.
Using a quantitative descriptive approach, the study identified three types of distress that were commonly encountered. These were anxiety/fear, sadness, and anger/frustration. Interestingly, these distresses were inversely proportional to the number of notes documented for each type. For example, more notes were recorded for anxiety/fear than for sadness.
Using a quantitative descriptive approach, a chi-square test was used to identify the association between the socio-demographic profile and palliative care needs. The results showed that more than two-thirds of patients had a moderate or higher socio-demographic profile. It is important to note that this study was not able to assess whether this difference was due to better communication between the healthcare provider and the patient, a higher awareness of the patient’s socio-demographic profile, or any other reason.
Spiritual
Spiritual care is an important aspect of palliative care. This type of care may be offered by psychologists, counselors, spiritual care coordinators, or social workers.
Several studies have shown that spirituality can alleviate the burden of care for patients with terminal illnesses. These benefits are especially important for family members who are caring for a loved one who is terminally ill. However, identifying the most important aspects of this type of care is an ongoing challenge.
A recent study in Sao Paulo, Brazil, explored caregivers’ experiences with the spiritual aspects of palliative care. Specifically, it evaluated the importance of having a meaningful life while receiving palliative care.
In this study, patients, family members, and caregivers answered the WHOQOL-SRPB (Self Reporting Questionnaire) about their experience with having a meaningful life. The results were then evaluated using the five-point Lickert scale. The highest rated aspect was Faith, while the least was the power of forgiveness.
The study also examined the challenges of providing spiritual care to caregivers. For instance, some caregivers are uncomfortable talking about their spiritual beliefs. Other external factors, such as language barrier, can limit the quality of care.
In addition to these challenges, it was found that patients with less intrinsic spirituality were more stressed and experienced more anxiety. Moreover, caregivers with lower spirituality spent fewer hours with their end-of-life patients.
Another interesting finding is that caregivers with higher intrinsic spirituality had a significantly lower risk of experiencing emotional distress. Thus, these findings suggest that the best possible outcome is for the health care team to address the spiritual aspects of palliative care systematically.
The purpose of this study was to develop a model of human spiritual needs in the palliative care setting. Although this study was not intended to measure the effectiveness of the model, it provides a starting point to address the needs of patients and caregivers.
One of the most notable findings is the equivalence between spirituality and meaning. According to the researchers, this can be a sign that patients are experiencing an existential crisis.
While this study did not identify a specific answer, it revealed that the most effective means to provide this kind of care is by listening. Listening without judgment can be beneficial to both caregivers and patients.
Social support
Social support is an essential component of palliative care. It is a holistic approach that addresses both emotional and physical needs. The aim is to improve the quality of life of patients and their families. Palliative care can be provided in various settings, including hospitals, hospices, and at home.
Studies have shown that families often have unmet social support needs. For example, those caring for parents with Huntington’s disease may have specific social support needs.
Research has also shown that the level of social support a patient receives during the course of a life-threatening illness is related to their well-being. Researchers have found that when a patient’s friends, family, and other acquaintances provide emotional and financial support, their overall health improves.
Hospice social workers can also provide patients and their families with social and emotional support. They can explain the care that is available and offer tips to help patients cope with their illness. In addition, they can help the patient and their family make final arrangements. These include completing advance directives and working out a bereavement plan.
End-of-life care is a special type of palliative care. This focuses on providing emotional and physical support to a dying patient and their family. This includes managing symptoms and side effects, as well as preparing the patient for death.
A study involving dying patients with a prognosis of less than a month revealed that patients who were given social support during the last week of their life were more likely to survive. Although no agreement is currently in place on what defines social support, it is often characterized as a network of friends and neighbors, or as a form of paid support.
In addition to emotional and mental support, a palliative care team can organize a support group. The team can also help connect a dying patient to local services.
A patient in the terminal phase of a life-threatening illness can face a wide range of psychological and emotional challenges. Some of these issues are associated with questions of forgiveness, faith, and religious belief. Other concerns include physical pain and depression.