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Palliative Care Nursing: A Guide to Practice in Canada
May 31, 2021
Palliative care nursing is a combination of compassionate and active healing therapies that are intended to comfort and support people and their families who are living with, dying because of a life-limiting illness, or are bereaved.
Students who enroll to complete practical nursing programs in the field of Palliative Care Nursing strive to do the following:
- Addressing the physical, social, spiritual, and psychological needs of the patients.
- Tending to their associated needs, hopes, fears, and expectations.
- In some cases, the nurses also prepare for managing the self-determined life closure and dying process.
- Helping families cope with loss and grief because of illness and bereavement.
Choosing Palliative Care Nursing:
Palliative care is the practice of treating patients who are dealing with complex pain and chronic disease symptoms. The nurses are meant to learn healing patient care techniques that are considered extremely important for enhancing patient care. If you choose to pursue nursing education in Palliative care then you must keep in mind that the field demands a compassionate mindset. You will be often required to deal with patients who have been suffering from a prolonged and serious illness. While you heal them, you will also be needed to be at your compassionate best. All through the course of studying Palliative care nursing in Canada, you will be able to manage the pain and symptoms of patients while the doctor focuses on treatment. This kind of care is considered suitable for any person and family that has been living with or is at risk of developing a serious disease due to a diagnosis, prognosis, irrespective of the age, and at any time they have unmet expectations. Palliative care can sometimes complement disease-modifying treatments as well and is most effectively delivered when nurses work in tandem with multidisciplinary healthcare teams that are knowledgeable and skilled in all aspects of the caring process. The nurses are educated by some of the best nursing colleges in Canada that are governed by new healthcare standards. Once the nurses complete their education, they are accountable for professional conduct set by licensing bodies and professional associations. Trained Palliative care nurses are in fact equal, invaluable, and essential members of healthcare teams.Palliative Care Nursing Program – What to Expect?
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines Palliative Care as an approach that improves the quality of life of patients and their families facing the problems associated with life-threatening illness, through the prevention and relief of suffering by means of early identification and impeccable assessment and treatment of pain and other problems, physical, psychosocial and spiritual. When students choose to study the Palliative Care nursing programs in Ontario, they are introduced to some of the most important concepts and problems faced by nurses in offering Palliative care to terminally ill patients. They study topics such as quality of life, research, and updated trends in medical treatments, social, personal, and cultural aspects of death. In addition, they are also offered an in-depth clarification of stress-causing habits, and values to be inculcated in the process of caregiving. Since Palliative care is offered to patients who are suffering from prolonged and severe illnesses under different health conditions, the students learn about treatment and care plans to be provided in the context of health problems and conditions of patients. After the successful completion of nursing education in Palliative Care Nursing, a student will be able to:- Offer relief to patients who are suffering from pain and other distressing symptoms.
- Have a life ward approach while regarding death as a normal process of living.
- Neither hasten nor postpone death in some circumstances.
- Include psychological and spiritual aspects while offering healthcare services.
- Work as a support system to help patients live an active life until death.
- Be a support system for families who are coping with the patient’s illness and in some cases bereavement.
- Use a healthcare team approach to address the needs of patients and their families including bereavement counselling, if needed.
- Enhance the quality of life and positively influence the entire course of illness.
- Work in tandem with other healthcare therapies that are aimed at prolonging life.