Definition Of A Palliative Care Nurse

The definition of a Palliative Care Nurse is remarkably underdefined. The general public tends to relate palliative care directly with death and or the end of life, in a manner that is not realistic. Many define Palliative Care Nurses as “Angels of Death”. This definition is unreasonable and requires continuous education and re-educating of the community. Palliative Care Nurses play a multitude of vital roles and tasks in the business of Hospice, or Hospice related fields. They are responsible for being knowledgeable, first and foremost of what hospice or palliative care means. In addition to this, they are responsible for maintaining a current understanding of Medicare guidelines and updates. Palliative Care Nurses have many responsibilities. They must have excellent communication skils, interpersonal attributes that allow them to build rapport with patients, family,and caregivers. They are responsible for educating others in regard to caring for their patients in a safe, effective manner, recognizing signs and symptoms of pain or discomfort in their patients, and delivering the complete scope of nursing as they educate and provide care for their patients. They must be excellent navigators of resources within and outside of the patients communities to provide for the needs of their patients. They are responsible for making decisions regarding the plan of care for their patients based on their subjective collection of data, obtained from completing the nursing process. They are expected to accurately, paint a picture of their patients, including their circumstances, for an interdisciplinary group of individuals that includie physicians, nursing personnel, social workers, chaplains, bereavement personnel, and volunteers. This grooup of individuals provide services for the patients based on the nurses observations and documentation of his or her subjective data.

Palliative Care Nurses provide a vast array of services in their day to day activities. Nursing personnel are highly trained and skilled in providing a holistic approach to treating and providing care for their patients. Unlike the general concensus on palliative care nursing, these nurses ensure that your loved ones are recipients of quality and comfortable care as they experience the natural dying process, as it may relate to their individual disease process, in the comfort of their own residences. There are many other roles of palliative care nursing that are not included in this article. If you would like to learn more about palliative care or desire to discuss palliative care with this writer, please do so.

Your comments and suggestions concerning this article can be shared below.

Mathphysmed Young BSN, RN, CLNC
Copyright 2016
Updated and Posted on Steemit 2018