PORTFOLIO
[Name]
[Institute]
Word Count: 3097
PORTFOLIO
Part 1
For a short period of time, I was tasked with working as a Palliative Nurse for HITH (Hospital in the Home), where I was tasked with providing care to individuals suffering from a life limiting or life-threatening illnesses that lacked a cure. Thus, the focus was my practice was to provide physical as well as psychological support they may need at this stage in their life.
Western health caters to a unique health delivery system known as Hospital in the Home (HITH). It is basically located at Western Health but also extends its services to the Williamstown Hospital, Sunshine Hospital, and Sunbury Hospital. It is situated on the western outskirts of Victoria. In 1994, HITH was introduced as an experimental program for the welfare of patients and improved health outcomes. According to the report by Health Vic. 2018, the HITH program was initiated in 2019 with the objective of proving safe home-based quality care to the patients and it was strongly commended by the health professionals. The main motive of HITH is delivering valuable care to the patients in dire need at their homes which otherwise has to be provided within a hospital setup. Patients who are approved and assigned for the care services by HITH are primarily referred to as inpatients and all the services are fully funded by Western Health ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"TCDExeSq","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Rosenberg, 2017)","plainCitation":"(Rosenberg, 2017)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":1082,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/5VyEEXyp/items/R94FAVAM"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/5VyEEXyp/items/R94FAVAM"],"itemData":{"id":1082,"type":"article-journal","title":"Challenges and opportunities for community mental health in Australia","container-title":"Debra Parnell","page":"9","author":[{"family":"Rosenberg","given":"Sebastian"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2017"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Rosenberg, 2017). According to the information published by Better Health Channel, the HITH program is cost-effective and worthy of the overall efficient services provided by the hospital. This program is considered a convenient option for patients who require acute care over a long course. Such initiatives encourage the health industry to grow and expand the potential of their services.
The office of HITH is sited in the Acute Services Building, Sunshine Hospital on level one and Western Hospital Footscray in the main block at two South. The membership with HITH or moving to the facility is entirely voluntary. Proper consent is taken from the patients in the form of a consent form before they are recruited in the program. This consent certifies that the patient has read and understood the conditions for the care they are about to receive and that the HITH health care workforce will be allowed to visit the patient’s home.
Part 2
Considering that my role is confined to providing palliative care to the people living with a life-limiting illness, the member of my team, and my preceptor nurse guided the role that I had to play. Since the patients were already deeply impacted by the disease they were suffering from and were acutely aware of how there was no going back from these diseases. However, they could be provided with both physical and emotional support, which could make their remaining days easier. Therefore, the focus was placed on the provision of quality care, where their symptoms were managed in an appropriate manner, with comprehensive support provided to both the patient and their family member ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"ioFxIZfp","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Kirkpatrick, Cantrell, & Smeltzer, 2017)","plainCitation":"(Kirkpatrick, Cantrell, & Smeltzer, 2017)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":1083,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/5VyEEXyp/items/VRZDDDXE"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/5VyEEXyp/items/VRZDDDXE"],"itemData":{"id":1083,"type":"article-journal","title":"Palliative care simulations in undergraduate nursing education: an integrative review","container-title":"Clinical Simulation in Nursing","page":"414-431","volume":"13","issue":"9","author":[{"family":"Kirkpatrick","given":"Amanda J."},{"family":"Cantrell","given":"Mary Ann"},{"family":"Smeltzer","given":"Suzanne C."}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2017"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Kirkpatrick, Cantrell, & Smeltzer, 2017). While the healthcare facility I worked with also provided inpatient palliative care, with an ensuite television and phone, where pets were allows visiting. Since there were only 14 beds available at a time, they also supplemented this care with home-based care, so that space is always available for patients that require inpatient palliative care, while my team members and I made routine visits to patients at their residence to check in on them.
HITH nurses have dynamic roles and responsibilities associated with the delivery system and thus not bound to perform only certain tasks. These nurses have diverse tasks to perform and make the practice efficient. HTH staff is determined to ensure the delivery of the best care at their patient’s own house. There are various duties that HITH nurses are entitled to under well-defined policies and regulatory procedures ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"1rFh4oVQ","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Sekse, Hunsk\\uc0\\u229{}r, & Ellingsen, 2018)","plainCitation":"(Sekse, Hunskår, & Ellingsen, 2018)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":1084,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/5VyEEXyp/items/BUHJNRGK"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/5VyEEXyp/items/BUHJNRGK"],"itemData":{"id":1084,"type":"article-journal","title":"The nurse's role in palliative care: A qualitative meta‐synthesis","container-title":"Journal of clinical nursing","page":"e21-e38","volume":"27","issue":"1-2","author":[{"family":"Sekse","given":"Ragnhild Johanne Tveit"},{"family":"Hunskår","given":"Irene"},{"family":"Ellingsen","given":"Sidsel"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2018"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Sekse, Hunskår, & Ellingsen, 2018). The numerous responsibilities upon nurses can be studied and analyzed by drawing comparisons and contrast through extensive literature review.
The HITH workforce comprises an organized hierarchal structure such as liaison nurses, road nurses and unit managers. Two medical registrars are also a part of this program. The quality care and patient safety can only be guaranteed with the efficient involvement of a well-disciplined team ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"KumZvKVt","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Romagnoli, Handler, & Hochheiser, 2013)","plainCitation":"(Romagnoli, Handler, & Hochheiser, 2013)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":1085,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/5VyEEXyp/items/7BXYMYGZ"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/5VyEEXyp/items/7BXYMYGZ"],"itemData":{"id":1085,"type":"book","title":"Home care: more than just a visiting nurse","publisher":"BMJ Publishing Group Ltd","ISBN":"2044-5415","author":[{"family":"Romagnoli","given":"Katrina M."},{"family":"Handler","given":"Steven M."},{"family":"Hochheiser","given":"Harry"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2013"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Romagnoli, Handler, & Hochheiser, 2013). Their roles are preassigned, and they are specialized in their own fields, yet they maintain proper coordination among each other for the improved service delivery. The liaison nurses initiate the admission process at two South where patients are subjected to a questionnaire which is a part of a safety assessment tool (SAT). This questionnaire helps the administration in the screening process to determine the situation at the patient’s home. Apart from this, these nurses ask them various questions about the patient and fill the admission form. After explaining the conditions of care services provided, the nurses get them to endorse the consent form. They also elucidate all the details and procedures of the care system and make them understand the program. They also inform the patients to seek help whenever needed. When the assessment is completed, the nurses then make a decision based on the patient’s response whether the nurses will visit the patient’s house to provide the care or patients would have to visit the hospital for a proper care management course.
The two weeks that I spent with this amazing group of nurses was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. No matter how challenging things got, or the number of times the complexity of the situation at hand baffled me, my team members and the preceptor nurses were always hands-on in terms of finding the right solution for the entire team. Sure, given the situation, considering that we were operating out of an individual’s residence as opposed to a well-planned hospital setting, safety challenges became a cause of concern. However, most of such issues were addressed prior to admitting the patient to HITH care, which made it easier for most of us to devote all of our time in the promotion of the patient’s health and well-being ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"6GeW2VAv","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Roden, Jarvis, Campbell-Crofts, & Whitehead, 2015)","plainCitation":"(Roden, Jarvis, Campbell-Crofts, & Whitehead, 2015)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":1087,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/5VyEEXyp/items/HS6FM6NJ"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/5VyEEXyp/items/HS6FM6NJ"],"itemData":{"id":1087,"type":"article-journal","title":"Australian rural, remote and urban community nurses' health promotion role and function","container-title":"Health promotion international","page":"704-714","volume":"31","issue":"3","author":[{"family":"Roden","given":"Janet"},{"family":"Jarvis","given":"Lynda"},{"family":"Campbell-Crofts","given":"Sandra"},{"family":"Whitehead","given":"Dean"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2015"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Roden, Jarvis, Campbell-Crofts, & Whitehead, 2015).
On an average day at work, my team and I are most likely to check the details on the patients that we need to visit for the day and ensure that we pack all the supplies and equipment we may possibly need for the day. After checking on the patient allocations and packing the patient folders and their medication, the road nurses can then get into their vehicles and visit the patients one at a time. Prior to our arrival, one of us always calls the patient beforehand to let them know that we are on our way. This courtesy call ensures that the patient is ready to meet us as soon as we arrive. This keeps the team efficient, and on-time and keeps the entire process hassle-free, with the time being managed in an adequate manner ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"0FG76mxG","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Muntean, Tomita, & Ungureanu, 2013)","plainCitation":"(Muntean, Tomita, & Ungureanu, 2013)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":1086,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/5VyEEXyp/items/GPBACXRI"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/5VyEEXyp/items/GPBACXRI"],"itemData":{"id":1086,"type":"article-journal","title":"The Role of the Community Nurse in Promoting Health and Human Dignity-Narrative Review Article","container-title":"Iranian journal of public health","page":"1077","volume":"42","issue":"10","author":[{"family":"Muntean","given":"Ana"},{"family":"Tomita","given":"Mihaela"},{"family":"Ungureanu","given":"Roxana"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2013"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Muntean, Tomita, & Ungureanu, 2013). While I was still learning the ropes of how the entire thing worked, the nurses that I was with were brilliant at what they did, considering the fact that they are usually working on their own and do not have a team of people at hand helping them out. These nurses have excellent communication skills, are sensitive to the cultures and the ethnicities their patients adhere to and believe in providing holistic care to their patients ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"aSGMW0FV","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Adib-Hajbaghery, 2013)","plainCitation":"(Adib-Hajbaghery, 2013)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":1088,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/5VyEEXyp/items/WVHDVI44"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/5VyEEXyp/items/WVHDVI44"],"itemData":{"id":1088,"type":"article-journal","title":"Nurses role in the community","container-title":"Nurs Midwifery Stud","page":"e11714","volume":"2","issue":"2","author":[{"family":"Adib-Hajbaghery","given":"Mohsen"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2013"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Adib-Hajbaghery, 2013).
In the end, the care needed by the patients and the roles and responsibilities undertaken by HITH nurses differentiates from patient to patient and home to home. While these nurses have to stick to a directive and a certain set of policies, at the same time, these nurses are tasked with providing patient-centred care, considering that one life-limiting illness differs vastly from another illness. While they take on any task that would make the life of their patient easier, at the same time, the care that they provide still needs to be safe and delivered in a manner that no negative repercussions of the care provided are to be born by the patient ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"NZPYRaab","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Brazil, Kassalainen, Ploeg, & Marshall, 2010)","plainCitation":"(Brazil, Kassalainen, Ploeg, & Marshall, 2010)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":1089,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/5VyEEXyp/items/KIGVN5GT"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/5VyEEXyp/items/KIGVN5GT"],"itemData":{"id":1089,"type":"article-journal","title":"Moral distress experienced by health care professionals who provide home-based palliative care","container-title":"Social science & medicine","page":"1687-1691","volume":"71","issue":"9","author":[{"family":"Brazil","given":"Kevin"},{"family":"Kassalainen","given":"Sharon"},{"family":"Ploeg","given":"Jenny"},{"family":"Marshall","given":"Denise"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2010"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Brazil, Kassalainen, Ploeg, & Marshall, 2010). Furthermore, having been part of the process personally at this point, I believe that what we study about palliative nursing care and the mode of delivery with regard to HITH, is vastly different from how field-based care is provided to the patient and how they respond to it. Since the mode of care in this aspect is always patient-centred, the nurses have to make use of some unconventional, yet tried and tested methods to fulfill the needs of the patients. Despite only being a part of the system for two short weeks at best, I believe I learned more than all my years at school.
Part 3
Palliative care is based on the principle that an individual’s family is an intrinsic part of a patient’s care, the family unit is often viewed as a group of individuals that can help with the process of providing quality care to those that need it. Here, appropriate means of care can be achieved through proper interventions, which require the support of the family unit for effective delivery of care. This makes it vital for the family unit to understand what goes into the provision of palliative care of terminally ill patients.
Research has been an invaluable tool in this regard, along with hands-on care provided by HITH nurses. Our experiences, challenges, and the hands-on care that we deliver to our patients does not end with working with the patient alone. We also frequently collaborate with their at-home care-takers and family members, all of whom need to be well-versed in the provision of care. This way, even if the patient suffers from a neurodegenerative disease, like Alzheimer’s Parkinson’s, Dementia, or cardiac disease, the right care is provided.
While the palliative nursing care team is there at a patient’s residence to provide patient-centred care, more often than not we have come across family members that not only need information with regard to certain aspects of the life of their loved one, at the same time, but would also like to know if the measures they are taking to help their family are the right measures to take or not in the first place.
As a basis for offering optimal support to families in palliative care, this chapter focuses on describing the findings of a nursing research program that prospectively examined the experiences of such families. My team and I had to constantly attend to the needs of not only patients but also patients’ families, particularly as they moved back and forth between the hospital and home. In an effort to ensure that the families have the proper guidelines about family-centred care, literature should be reviewed, and guidelines created that was curated to the needs of the family member with regard to the required information to aid their loved one that is terminally ill ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"WhPyPH8P","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Steele & Davies, 2015)","plainCitation":"(Steele & Davies, 2015)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":1091,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/5VyEEXyp/items/LMMTGBLR"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/5VyEEXyp/items/LMMTGBLR"],"itemData":{"id":1091,"type":"article-journal","title":"Supporting families in palliative care","container-title":"Social Aspects of Care","volume":"6","author":[{"family":"Steele","given":"Rose"},{"family":"Davies","given":"Betty"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2015"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Steele & Davies, 2015).
Feeling a burden for their family is common among patients. If patients see themselves as purposeless, dependent, and immobile, they have a greater sense of burdening their loved ones. The more realistically patients redefined themselves as their capacities diminished, the more accurate they were in their perceptions of burdening. They acknowledged other family members’ efforts, appreciated those efforts, and encouraged family members to rest and take time to care for themselves. Patients who were less able to redefine themselves did not see that they were burdening other family members in any way. They denied or minimized the strain on others.
This made the task of my team and me all the more difficult, especially considering the emotional drain we already went through, seeing the patients and their family members suffer in a way that they did. Thus, finding effective ways to support family caregivers is critical. An increase in the proportion of elderly people in the population means growing numbers of people with chronic, life-threatening, or serious illness require care. The responsibility for the care of such individuals is increasingly being placed on families. Respite care is often suggested as a strategy for relieving the burden on family caregivers. Although respite and other resources or services should be offered to families, each family must decide what will actually be helpful to them. For some families, inpatient respite services during the last year of life may help relieve their burden, while other caregivers may experience feelings of guilt and increased stress because of worrying about the quality of care provided. Caregivers may be supported in their role simply by knowing there are resources and support available to them, even if they do not make use of these resources ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"SSNJoWnZ","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Moir, Roberts, Martz, Perry, & Tivis, 2015)","plainCitation":"(Moir, Roberts, Martz, Perry, & Tivis, 2015)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":1092,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/5VyEEXyp/items/5GCY6DKF"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/5VyEEXyp/items/5GCY6DKF"],"itemData":{"id":1092,"type":"article-journal","title":"Communicating with patients and their families about palliative and end-of-life care: comfort and educational needs of nurses","container-title":"International journal of palliative nursing","page":"109-112","volume":"21","issue":"3","author":[{"family":"Moir","given":"Cheryl"},{"family":"Roberts","given":"Renee"},{"family":"Martz","given":"Kim"},{"family":"Perry","given":"Judith"},{"family":"Tivis","given":"Laura"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2015"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Moir, Roberts, Martz, Perry, & Tivis, 2015).
Potential factors influencing the success of respite care include the dynamics within the family, in particular between the patient and family caregivers. Support from informal and professional caregivers was found not to be sufficient to balance the stresses of caregiving. The missing element may be internal to the family. These findings encourage greater exploration into respite care and its meaning to caregivers. Family members may value cognitive breaks during which they can remain within the caregiving environment, but physical separation from the caregiving environment may be valuable only if it contributes in some meaningful way to the caregiving ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"371q7kmS","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Weaver et al., 2016)","plainCitation":"(Weaver et al., 2016)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":1093,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/5VyEEXyp/items/8JQEY27W"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/5VyEEXyp/items/8JQEY27W"],"itemData":{"id":1093,"type":"article-journal","title":"Establishing psychosocial palliative care standards for children and adolescents with cancer and their families: An integrative review","container-title":"Palliative medicine","page":"212-223","volume":"30","issue":"3","author":[{"family":"Weaver","given":"Meaghann S."},{"family":"Heinze","given":"Katherine E."},{"family":"Bell","given":"Cynthia J."},{"family":"Wiener","given":"Lori"},{"family":"Garee","given":"Amy M."},{"family":"Kelly","given":"Katherine P."},{"family":"Casey","given":"Robert L."},{"family":"Watson","given":"Anne"},{"family":"Hinds","given":"Pamela S."}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2016"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Weaver et al., 2016).
Struggling with paradox stems from the fact that the patient is both living and dying. For patients, the struggle focuses on wanting to believe they will survive and knowing that they will not. On “good days,” patients felt optimistic about the outcome; on other days, they succumbed to the inevitability of their approaching demise. Often, patients did not want to “give up” but at the same time were “tired of fighting.” They wanted to “continue on” for the sake of their families but also wanted “it to end soon” so their families could “get on with their lives.” Patients coped by hoping for miracles, fighting for the sake of their families, and focusing on the good days.
Those facing a terminal illness in a family member experience changes in every realm of daily life—relationships, roles, socialization, and work patterns. The focus of the changes differed among family members. Patients faced changes in their relationships with everyone they knew. They realized that the greatest change of their life was underway and that life as they knew it would soon be gone. They tended to break down tasks into manageable pieces, and increasingly they focused inward. The greatest change that spouses faced was in their relationship with the patient. They coped by attempting to keep everything as normal as possible.
Thus, at the end of the day, it is our job as providers to palliative care that they days these patients have left behind are some of the best days of their lives, the ones they not only get to spend with their family members but also be free of pain and the end that looms just beyond the horizon.
Part 4
From what one learns about palliative care in school that it is the form of care administered to patients that are suffering from a life-limiting illness. There is no cure for these illnesses and the patient will have to suffer through it until the moment he or she passes away. As a part of nursing programs, we are taught that the most we can hope and do for such patients are put them at ease, relief their pain, and support them both physically and psychologically. However, what these class fails to tell us is how taxing it is to stand in the same room as this person, look them in the eyes, get to know them, feel everything that they are feeling and at the same time know that just how much pain they will be in when they die. It does put a lot of things into perspective ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"0O7hBCEH","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Kelley & Morrison, 2015)","plainCitation":"(Kelley & Morrison, 2015)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":1081,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/5VyEEXyp/items/48ZBJF7K"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/5VyEEXyp/items/48ZBJF7K"],"itemData":{"id":1081,"type":"article-journal","title":"Palliative care for the seriously ill","container-title":"New England Journal of Medicine","page":"747-755","volume":"373","issue":"8","author":[{"family":"Kelley","given":"Amy S."},{"family":"Morrison","given":"R. Sean"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2015"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Kelley & Morrison, 2015).
For a very long time, I knew that I wanted to work as a palliative care nurse. It was an area of expertise that I held close to my heart, not only because so few people work in this field, but also because, in my opinion, despite all its radical advances, the field of medicine had essentially given up on these people. There is something fundamentally wrong with the idea of a healthcare profession being capable of doing nothing to help a patient out, especially when the patient desperately seeks it. Sure, doctors are in no way miracle workers or wizards. They cannot wave their wands or brew a portion and fix people. However, despite their lack of being able to do something about the life-limiting disease, they could always make sure that the patient in their ward feels no pain when he or she breathes his last. The service I aim to provide maybe unrewarding in the grand scheme of things, but the idea of putting a smile on a hopeless face is a thrill in itself, even for a brief period of time.
Palliative care is one area of the nursing specialty, where professional development is key. This is not only because the individual in need of care is suffering from a complex and serious illness, but also because the patients, as well as families of such patients, require emotional support throughout the process ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"ue5cIQrf","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Hudson, 2003)","plainCitation":"(Hudson, 2003)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":1090,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/5VyEEXyp/items/I3CBZRFX"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/5VyEEXyp/items/I3CBZRFX"],"itemData":{"id":1090,"type":"article-journal","title":"Home‐based support for palliative care families: challenges and recommendations","container-title":"Medical Journal of Australia","page":"S35-S17","volume":"179","author":[{"family":"Hudson","given":"Peter"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2003"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Hudson, 2003). They need to be acutely aware of the various ways to manage the symptoms that arise as a result of these illnesses and what they can do to make the entire process easier for the people involved. Thus, it is vital that nurses are able to not only be the very best at the provision of palliative care, but it is also essential that multi-disciplinary care needs are also integrated into the system at hand. This prepares the nurse to provide patient-centred care in a much better manner and ensure that the care plan created for a particular patient addresses all of those needs efficiently ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"Own1Ehn5","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Anderson et al., 2017)","plainCitation":"(Anderson et al., 2017)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":1080,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/5VyEEXyp/items/CT5RAZB8"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/5VyEEXyp/items/CT5RAZB8"],"itemData":{"id":1080,"type":"article-journal","title":"Palliative care professional development for critical care nurses: a multicenter program","container-title":"American Journal of Critical Care","page":"361-371","volume":"26","issue":"5","author":[{"family":"Anderson","given":"Wendy G."},{"family":"Puntillo","given":"Kathleen"},{"family":"Cimino","given":"Jenica"},{"family":"Noort","given":"Janice"},{"family":"Pearson","given":"Diana"},{"family":"Boyle","given":"Deborah"},{"family":"Grywalski","given":"Michelle"},{"family":"Meyer","given":"Jeannette"},{"family":"O’Neil-Page","given":"Edith"},{"family":"Cain","given":"Julia"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2017"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Anderson et al., 2017).
The field of medicine is trying its hardest to find a cure for life-limiting diseases. While it has succeeded in certain areas, it still has a long way to go. Thus, as long as there are incurable diseases in the world, I will find myself right next to my patients through their journey. I will keep adding to my skillset, keep on growing, developing and learning through the entire process, trying my hardest to ensure that I am doing the best possible job that I can at the time.
References
ADDIN ZOTERO_BIBL {"uncited":[],"omitted":[],"custom":[]} CSL_BIBLIOGRAPHY Adib-Hajbaghery, M. (2013). Nurses role in the community. Nurs Midwifery Stud, 2(2), e11714.
Anderson, W. G., Puntillo, K., Cimino, J., Noort, J., Pearson, D., Boyle, D., … Cain, J. (2017). Palliative care professional development for critical care nurses: A multicenter program. American Journal of Critical Care, 26(5), 361–371.
Better Health Channel. (2018). Hospital in the Home Services. Retrieved from https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/ServiceProfiles/Hospital-in-the-Home-services
Brazil, K., Kassalainen, S., Ploeg, J., & Marshall, D. (2010). Moral distress experienced by health care professionals who provide home-based palliative care. Social Science & Medicine, 71(9), 1687–1691.
Hudson, P. (2003). Home‐based support for palliative care families: Challenges and recommendations. Medical Journal of Australia, 179, S35–S17.
Kelley, A. S., & Morrison, R. S. (2015). Palliative care for the seriously ill. New England Journal of Medicine, 373(8), 747–755.
Kirkpatrick, A. J., Cantrell, M. A., & Smeltzer, S. C. (2017). Palliative care simulations in undergraduate nursing education: An integrative review. Clinical Simulation in Nursing, 13(9), 414–431.
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