Symptom control, end-of-life care, communication skills, syringe drivers, and ethical frameworks in terminal illness.
Bereavement and grief are natural responses to loss, with most people adjusting over time without professional intervention, though approximately 10% develop prolonged grief disorder requiring specialist support.
Breaking bad news is a complex communication skill requiring a structured approach such as SPIKES, to deliver distressing information honestly and compassionately while supporting the patient's emotional response.
Breathlessness is a distressing subjective experience affecting 50-70% of patients with advanced disease, managed through non-pharmacological interventions and low-dose opioids as the pharmacological mainstay.
Carers of patients with life-limiting illness experience significant physical, emotional, and financial burden, requiring proactive assessment and support as a key component of holistic palliative care.
Constipation affects up to 90% of palliative care patients on opioids, requiring prophylactic laxatives with all opioid prescriptions and a proactive approach to assessment and management.
Pain affects 70-80% of patients with advanced cancer and requires systematic assessment and management using the WHO analgesic ladder alongside adjuvant therapies and interventional techniques for refractory cases.
Palliative care emergencies include spinal cord compression, superior vena cava obstruction, hypercalcaemia of malignancy, massive haemorrhage, and seizures, requiring prompt recognition and treatment alongside goals-of-care discussions.
Palliative care is an approach that improves quality of life for patients and families facing life-threatening illness, through prevention and relief of suffering across physical, psychological, social, and spiritual dimensions.
Spiritual care addresses existential, meaning-making, and transcendent dimensions of suffering in serious illness, forming a core component of holistic palliative care alongside physical, psychological, and social support.
A syringe driver delivers continuous subcutaneous infusion (CSCI) of medications over 24 hours, used when patients can no longer take oral medications, enabling effective symptom management in the last days of life.