Introduction
Proper treatment is essential to the recovery of patients. Lack thereof compromises the possibilities of a patient getting better due to the administration of bad medical practices. Palliative care is an efficient procedure commonly utilized at the end of life treatment. It involves the initiatives implemented by a health institution to help improve the patient’s quality of life and the response of their families to an illness that threatens one’s life. This approach is made possible through assessment, prevention, pain treatment, psychological, physical and spiritual discomforts (Bhatnagar & Joshi, 2011). With this in mind, it is worth appreciating the fact that providing age appropriate palliative care is an indispensable initiative to the nursing practice. This provision is widely accredited to the fact that it enhances the improvement of the patient’s health and the response of their families. Consequently, nurses need to internalize essential medical practices to help young adults and their families, in palliative context.
Identify and explain the importance of providing age appropriate palliative care
Age-appropriate palliative care is imperative to the success of the nursing practice. This provision is attributed to the fact that it enhances an individual life quality in case they are suffering from a terminal medical complication. According to the Journal of Palliative Medicine, this treatment approach provides relief from pain and other distressing symptoms that may be experienced by a patient (Keim-Malpass, Erickson & Malpass, 2014). Consequently, it has an immense impact on the development of a patient and the emotional coping of the family members. Palliative care affirms life and acknowledges dying as a normal process. With this provision, it makes dealing with complicated medical situations lesser challenging since the patients have different perspectives about the end of their life. Since it integrates with spiritual and psychological aspects during the proposition of treatment approaches, it enhances the cognitive development of the patients by making it easier to accept their current medical complications and acknowledging necessary measures to neutralize the problems (Bhatnagar & Joshi, 2011). Finally, it uses a team approach in addressing the patient’s medical conditions with their family’s concerns making it easier to deal with bereavement. Therefore, palliative care is important to patients and their families.
Palliative care approach
Since this treatment initiative is essential to the development of patients with terminal illnesses, proper strategies need to be utilized when dealing with young patients. This provision is largely accredited to the fact that young individuals are experiencing terminal illnesses still have a reason to live due to their tender age. As such, nurses and other health workers should take proper initiatives to facilitate the realization of this treatment approach. For starters, they can provide necessary psychological and medical support while in the hospital environment. According to Carter, Levetown and Friebert (2013), patients who are informed of devastating medical conditions experience extreme emotional breakdowns when they are informed of their health status for the first time. In this case, nurses should utilize proper approaches when advising the youngsters that they have a terminal illness. They should commence with an explanation of the possibilities of dealing with the medical complication through the maintenance of a positive mentality (Wiener, Weaver, Bell & Sansom-Daly, 2015). Later in the counseling process, the nurses should guide the patients on how to take the necessary medication to suppress the effects of their health status.
Because influential palliative care encompasses the efforts of the nurses and family members, community caregivers should offer their help while the patient is at home. Consequently, the medical practitioners overseeing the welfare of the young patients at their homes should provide the necessary spiritual and psychological support needed for the betterment of their health (Haley and Daley, 2013). Additionally, friends, community members and other relatives should appreciate the essence of providing their support to the improvement of the patient’s health. Since the individual in question is a young person, giving proper moral support would enhance their recovery considerably as opposed to the elderly people who constantly feel it is their time to die (Wiener, Weaver, Bell & Sansom-Daly, 2015). Health facility workers should visit the patients frequently to ensure that the nature of treatment offered by the family and other community members is constructive. They should also propose practical solutions to augment the palliative care performance. With this approach, the family members would find it lesser challenging to deal with bereavement as it gives them a chance to understand their relative better before death occurs.
Discuss how nurses can support the needs of a young adult and their families
Since the administration of proper age-appropriate palliative care is dependent on the involvement of a nurse, their impact on the patient’s recovery is indispensable. The nurses can support the needs of young patients in a variety of ways. For instance, they can propose the nature of the palliative care needed by the patient. Through this provision, it becomes lesser challenging for the young patient to adapt to the new recovery environment (Carter, Levetown & Friebert, 2013). Additionally, nurses can offer proper moral support to the patient and help them to deal with the complexity of the medical complications they experience. Since guidance and counseling are common in palliative care, the nurses can utilize this approach to inquire about the patient’s perception towards their medical complication. After understanding this state, they can propose appropriate treatment measures to foster the betterment of the medical complication. Therefore, the role of nurses to the improvement of a youngster’s medical condition through palliative care is undisputed.
On the other hand, nurses have an equally important role in making the situation of the young patient lesser challenging for the family to deal with. According to Haley and Daley (2013), palliative care enables the relatives of a patient to cope with the difficulties of their medical complication. With this in mind, it is worth appreciating the fact that nurses make this possible by offering psychological counseling to the family members. Since the family members need to be at peace with the health challenges experienced by their relative, nurses satisfy this requirement by offering proper counseling. Additionally, they propose appropriate care measures for the families to utilize in the betterment of the young adult’s health (Bhatnagar & Joshi, 2011). As a result, they enhance the nature of the relationship between the sick individuals and their family members. Through the cognitive influence offered by the nurses, the family members find it easier dealing with bereavement since they get quality time to appreciate the young patient’s life. As a result, the amount of pain felt due to loss is lessened through age appropriate palliative care since the nurses play a crucial role in ensuring the realization of this aspect.
Conclusion
In conclusion, age appropriate palliative care is imperative to the success of the nursing practice. As such, nurses need to internalize proper care administration measures to enhance the nature of the intervention taken for young adults. Since this section of the patient population has many reasons to live longer than the elderly, the quality of the palliative care issued is essential to the realization of life longevity. Additionally, the utilization of appropriate measures makes it lesser challenging for the family members to deal with the medical complication experienced by their relative. Nurses, therefore, make a tremendous contribution to the betterment of the patient’s health status through the administration of efficient palliative care measures. Moreover, they play an active part in making it lesser challenging for the families of the young adult to deal with bereavement. As a result, nurses need to internalize essential caregiving practices to enhance the effectiveness of age-appropriate palliative care.
References
Bhatnagar, S., & Joshi, S. (2011). Palliative care of young adults: An issue which needs higher and better awareness. Indian journal of palliative care, 13(3), 173-174.
Carter, B. S., Levetown, M., & Friebert, S. E. (Eds.). (2013). Palliative care for infants, children, and adolescents: a practical handbook. JHU Press.
Haley, C., and Daley, J. (2013). Palliation in chronic illness. In E. Chang and A. Johnson (Eds.). Chronic illness and disability. Principles for nursing practice. (2nd ed). (pp. 232-248). Chatswood: Elsevier. Retreived from http://www.intechopen.com/books/contemporary-and-innovative-practice- in-palliative-care
Keim-Malpass, J., Erickson, J. M., & Malpass, H. C. (2014). End-of-life care characteristics for young adults with cancer who die in the hospital. Journal of palliative medicine, 17(12), 1359-1364.
Wiener, L., Weaver, M. S., Bell, C. J., & Sansom-Daly, U. M. (2015). Threading the cloak: palliative care education for care providers of adolescents and young adults with cancer. Clinical oncology in adolescents and young adults, 5, 1.
