Vocational Nurse in Multi-Disciplinary Palliative

¶ … Vocational Nurse in Multi-Disciplinary Palliative Care The purpose of hospice or palliative care is to ease patients into dying. Palliative care providers promote quality of life during the process of dying. Furthermore, the goal or palliative or hospice care is to provide care for patients at home as long as possible. In addition, palliative care aims to ease patient suffering, control symptoms, and to restore functional capacity. In the context of palliative care, vocational nurses work as part of an interdisciplinary team.

One of the things that distinguish nurses in palliative care from other nurses is the focus on end-of-life care, while other nurses are focused on extending life. Therefore, the role of the vocational nurse in a palliative care team is sometimes less about medicine and more about providing emotional support. Vocational nurses in palliative care environments need exemplary listening and counseling skills. Additionally, vocational nurses need to be part of an around-the-clock medical team, which provides pain and symptom management.

Another difference between vocational nursing in a hospice or palliative care environment and other environments is that palliative care nurses treat the entire family. They are trained to deal with end-of-life issues and to provide culturally sensitive care. In addition, the role of palliative care nurses does not end at the patient's bedside. Palliative care nurses are involved in community education and end-of-life medical research. In addition, with more and more medical advances, the right to die is becoming increasingly threatened.

Therefore, palliative care nurses are called upon to advocate for the terminally ill in the broader community, whether in public demonstrations or in the legislative process. Most palliative care vocational nurses are generalists. However, there are specialties in palliative care, such as oncology and geriatrics. Hospice and palliative care nurses can become Certified Hospice and Palliative Nurses (CHPN). Palliative nurses practice in a variety of settings. The most common setting is the patient's home.

Palliative nurses also work in the hospice units of medical facilities, such as hospitals, nursing homes, and other long-term care settings. Patients typically die within a month of enrolling in a hospice program. In contrast, palliative care nurses are more likely to practice in long-term care facilities and have more extended involvement in their patients' end of life. In order to be an effective palliative care nurse, the vocational nurse needs an understanding of a specific group of practice areas.

Those areas include: pain management, end-stage disease process, loss and grief, and bereavement.