Myths of Palliative Care

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Running head: PALLIATIVE CARE 1 “To find inner peace: soft massage as an established and integrated part of palliative care” Olympia Thompson NU110 08/13/2013 ITT-TECH Orland Park, IL Running head: PALLIATIVE CARE 2 Palliative care is from the Latin word palliare meaning to cloak. It is specialized medical care for people with serious illnesses. It focuses on providing patients with relief from the pain symptoms and stress of a serious illness. It doesn’t matter the diagnosis. The goal is to improve quality of life for both the patient and the family. Palliative care is appropriate for any age and at any stage in a serious illness and can be provided along with curative treatment. Palliative care treats people suffering from serious illnesses such as cancer, cardiac disease (congestive heart failure), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), kidney failure, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and much more. The symptoms that palliative care focuses on is fatigue, pain, shortness of breath, loss of appetite, constipation, nausea, depression, and difficulty sleeping. It helps the patient have more control over their care by providing communication so that they can understand the choices they have for treatment. This type of care gives you strength to carry on with your daily life. It also can help improve the patient’s ability to tolerate medical treatments. Palliative care is a team approach to care. The team is called the core team and it includes: the doctor, nurse, social worker, palliative care specialist, massage therapists, pharmacists, nutritionists, chaplains, psychologists, and other allied health professionals. This core group

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