[Elmarie Mathews]

#85386

I loved this portion of the course- realizing that the possibilities are endless, if there are enough resources.

I have not specialized in palliative care, but by virtue of the field that I work in (paediatric oncology) this is what we have had to “learn” to do- often through trial and error, often – and I’m being vulnerable- at the expense of the holistic care of the patient and family.

Of course our team has tried to form “teams” that holistically look at patients, but this process is often tripped by a large lack of resources- time, allied health teams, a large patient load etc.

I’m sad that many opportunities have been missed, but also excited that there are possibilities to enlarge our team. Perhaps the answer is to start in small chunks- perhaps include the current people that are available (and willing) and start a conversation about how we can move to an MDT/IDT type of approach?

It’s a start…

[Sarah Curry]

#85473

As a nurse in the oncology space, I understand what you mean. So much more can be done but often the patient’s aren’t given the compassionate palliative care they need in an ongoing way. I was thinking that maybe my team could sit down at one of our weekly meetings and design a protocol of some kind. A part of this would be a palliative care plan since there isn’t one in the patient’s files eg, what will happen to the patient when they die, how they would like to die, what are their favourite things they’d like to be surrounded with.

[Tracy]

#85544

Sarah- this is a great start and nothing like the present to initiate a change, even if it is small! Please don’t hesitate to ask us for assistance/guidance when developing your care plan- we can even overview it for you once developed 😉

[Author]

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