When we think of palliative care, we often imagine supportive care for people who are dying. While this is an important aspect of palliative care, it isn’t the only one.
Palliative care Services in Melbourne focus on improving the quality of life for patients with serious illnesses that have limited treatment options and aren’t expected to get better.
You’ll find examples throughout this post—from reducing pain and symptoms to providing emotional support and helping patients maintain their dignity.
Helps Patients Set Realistic Goals
Palliative care Services Melbourne helps patients set realistic goals and understand the options available to them. It also includes helping patients understand the implications of their decisions, risks and benefits of treatment, and side effects of treatments.
For example, a patient may decide that they do not want to undergo chemotherapy because it would cause too much pain or discomfort. Palliative care can help this person make that decision by explaining what it would mean for their quality of life if they did choose to have chemotherapy.
Provides Emotional Support
In addition to physical care, palliative care also provides emotional support for patients and their families.
Many people with terminal illnesses experience stress, depression and anxiety as they deal with the reality of death. Palliative care can help patients and their loved one’s cope with these feelings by providing counselling or other forms of emotional support.
Palliative care also helps prepare patients for death–helping them plan their final days so that they can enjoy them while still feeling physically well enough to do so–and helps families cope after a loved one dies (something known as grief work).
Helps Patients Maintain Dignity
Palliative care helps patients maintain their sense of dignity. In the midst of an illness, it can be difficult to feel like you have control over your life. But palliative care can help with this by giving patients a sense of choice and control over how they want their treatment to proceed.
Palliative care also helps ensure that patients are treated with respect by everyone involved in their care–a doctor or nurse, family members or friends. This is important because it gives them a feeling that they matter and are valued by those around them during this difficult time in their lives.
Promotes Patient Comfort and Well-Being
Palliative care is a holistic approach to care for patients with advanced illness. It aims to provide comfort and support as well as help patients maintain their dignity, quality of life and make decisions about their own treatment.
Palliative care teams can include nurses, social workers and other healthcare professionals who have specialist training in palliative medicine.
Conclusion
Palliative care Services Melbourne is a specialty that can help patients with serious illnesses live more comfortably and with more dignity. It helps patients set realistic goals and provides emotional support, so they don’t feel alone in their struggle.
It also helps them maintain their dignity by promoting patient comfort and well-being.
