Nursing - Palliative Care Treatments for Young Adults - Essay Writing Assessment Answer

Nursing Assignment

Assignment Task

Palliative Care Treatments for Young Adults

Introduction

Palliative care refers to a field in medical care that works on providing medical attention to patients who have undergone some serious illnesses (Wallen et al, 2012). Palliative care focuses on providing some form of relief from the illnesses the patients were suffering from. They are mainly characterized by therapy, social support and counselling. The main purpose of this therapy session is to improve the quality of life. It is offered to an individual and their whole family. The palliative form of treatments can be provided at any stage of the serious illness. It can also be administered to persons of all ages. Palliative care experts work together with health professionals and physicians to provide this extra care to the patients. This report will place its focus on discussing the various factors that affect palliative care for young adults and adolescents. It will review the effects and causes of serious injuries and what might result in the administration of Palliative Care to the patients.

Importance of age appropriate palliative care

Patients of different ages have different medical needs. This means that patients of older ages may have different palliative care needs of patients who are of younger ages. For this reason, age appropriate palliative care is important. Age appropriate palliative care refers to a situation where the patients are given different prescriptions of the palliative care depending on the ages of the patients that require the palliative care services. Palliative care is often offered to patients and their families. This helps them to cope with the stressful situations or serious illnesses that may have affected all the family members. In most cases, the family members are often of different ages (Bhatnagar & Joshi, 2011). This calls for the need to have palliative care given in accordance to the ages. For example, the young people may require psychiatric care mainly because of the need for to prevent them from experiencing traumas in the later days of their lives. On the other hand, the older people may most likely require massaging services.

This provides a clear indication of the need that the people often have, is dependent on the age of each of these people. A young adult and his family will receive different palliative care services depending on their ages. The ages of all the family members are different from each other. The age of an individual also determines the level of stress or health complications their bodies can tolerate. At the older stages of life, the body is weaker that it was when one was a young person (Haley & Daley, 2013). This raises the need for age appropriate palliative care. Also, palliative care can come in many forms. Palliative care is meant to improve the lifestyle of an individual after going through a serious illness.

These kinds of illnesses have some serious concerns to the patients. These treatments are meant to take the mind of the patient away from the experience the patients just went through. For this reason, these treatments can take various forms. These forms of treatment depend on the manner in which they are provided. Age appropriate palliative care will help in increasing the effectiveness of the treatment to a young adult and his family. Improving the lifestyle of all the family members will improve the relationships that all the family members have with one another (De Rooy, 2012). In some cases, the family members may not have gone through the same illness experience. For this reason, it is crucial for each member to have a customized palliative care treatment.

Nurse Supports

During the implementation of the palliative care treatment, the services of a professional nurse are often required in such a scenario. However, the services of a nurse practitioner are required when the palliative care treatments are medical in nature. There are instances in which some of the patients just require some medical treatment. These services are provided in conjunction with a professional nurse. The main purpose of a nurse is to provide an extra layer of support to the patient and the person administering the palliative care treatment. Depending on the kind of illness the patient was suffering from, the nurse may prescribe different methods of palliative care treatments. The palliative care treatments are meant to improve the lives of the patients (Meier, 2011). In some cases, physicians often use the word palliative to refer to situations where no form of treatment can be expected from the treatment.

Nurses offer guidelines on the procedure to follow when providing the palliative care treatment. For example, a nurse who has been treating a certain patient will be better placed to determine the best form of palliative are a treatment to offer the patient. A palliative care expert may be making the situation worse for the patient without their knowledge. Also, the patient is usually not in a position to tell whether the treatment they are getting is good or not (Long, Yemane & Stockley, 2010). The patient may be feeling some relief at first, but in a real essence, they are becoming worse as they continue with the treatment. For this reason, the professional skills of a nurse are required in providing some guidance on the palliative care treatment being administered to a patient.

A nurse will be in a position to determine the best form of treatment for each member of the family requiring the palliative care treatment. Different family members require different forms of treatment depending on the experience they have had. Therefore, the nurse who was treating them will be in a better position to determine the best form of treatment. Also, the nurse will offer some medical support to the patient and their families (Fenstad et al, 2014). This medical support may involve treating the patients if they become sick or do not show any signs of improvement (Lohman & Amon, 2015). If there are no signs of improvement, the nurse may prescribe a different form of palliative care treatment to the patient with of ensuring that the patients begin showing some signs of improvement. Above all, the nurse will also provide professional advice to the patient and their family. This advice will go a long way in improving the lives of the patients.

Summary of Its Not just about pain: Symptom Management in Palliative Care

The main objective of palliative care is to help an individual achieve the best quality in life. The improvement of quality life is administered to a patient and their family members when curative measures are no longer working. In the field of medicine, they can be in a position to detect symptoms in a patient (Nunn, 2014). The doctors usually where and what to look for. However, it mostly depends on whether the patient notices something wrong at an early stage. Other people around the patient may not be in a position to know about the sickness, not unless the patient communicates with others. The article further states that nurses should exercise the best form of communication between them. Nursing is built on the essence of effective communication. Vital information such as details about the symptoms and how they can be managed, is vital information that can be used in care management. Communication within the nursing practice is crucial in providing all the necessary health care to a patient. The writer has placed focus on the clinical measures that place within the hospital setting. It is crucial for nurses to identify the symptoms that a patient is suffering from. This may include the use of non-pharmaceutical measures. These may involve touching the patient to determine whether they are hot or cold. Examining a waste sample to see whether they have diarrhea or blood in the stool sample. Before the prescription process, the nurses need to be sure that they are diagnosing the correct thickness.

Summary: Adverse psychosocial consequences: Compassion fatigue, burnout and vicarious traumatization: Are nurses who provide palliative and hematological cancer care vulnerable?

The caliber of health professional that are employed in the health sector are a clear indication of the skills that are required within the nursing profession. Nurses have different types of job scopes. There are instances when they are most vulnerable, while there are other times when they are not vulnerable. For example, the nurses whole is dealing with victims of rape of sexual abuse, are the most vulnerable. The world has begun advocating for palliative care to be introduced in their health centers. For example, in the year 1960, palliative care movements were held in the United Kingdom. The movement for advocating for palliative care treatment for the dying. Palliative care has gone beyond basic treatment, and now involves the relationship between the patient, and family members. Nurses offer the desired care and support to the patients and their families. They also offer compassion. The services provided by the nurses make them to become fatigued during their normal duties. Patients of trauma are often in a state of tension. It is the work of the nurse to relieve this stress from the patients and their families. However, this feeling is connected with the relationship between the nurse and the patient during the therapy sessions (Sabo, 2008). Patients stop becoming tense when they find themselves in a comfort zone where they can be free. For this reason, nurses are regarded to be very important in the medical field.

Martha’s Symptoms

Journal Entry

When the families of the deceased patients from the hospital come to visit me, causes me to feel some sympathy and sadness. I often feel like I would have done more to save their lives, despite the fact that there was nothing I could do about it. Also, it gives me a sense of guilt for the loss of the patients. There are some strategies that I intend to employ in a bid to avoid compassion fatigue.

1. Exercise – exercises help in relieving stress because it causes me to get my mind off the stressful activities that are taking place at my workplace.
2. Prayer and meditation – I will join small groups of people who have undergone the same ordeal and hold small discussions. However, I will be careful to maintain patient confidentiality.
3. Celebrations – I will locate even the smallest achievements and celebrate them. This will get my mind off the sad ordeals that are taking place and begin focusing on the good things that have happened.

Conclusion

Patients who are undergoing the palliative care treatment, often receive specialized attention. The attention is dependent on the type of suffering they have experienced and their current health conditions. Palliative care treatment is just as important as any other form of treatment. Patients who undergo this treatment, end up having better and improved lifestyles. For example, a patient who has been in a serious car accident can receive physiotherapy treatments after coming out of the hospital. This treatment is aimed at helping the patient improve their lifestyle. Surgery and medicine will have been used by the patient to help up to a certain extent. However, the patient will require going through physiotherapy sessions to improve their standards of living. The sessions may be used as a form of relaxing the patient and relieving some stress they may have.