CASE STUDY

Case study



Case Study

Introduction

This assignment is aimed at demonstrating how the author understands the concepts of holistic therapeutic practice in palliative care and how the principles of palliative care are applied in the clinical setting. The author will demonstrate this in the format of a case study. There will be an introduction to palliative care with definitions of therapeutic and holistic care and some discussion around how the principles of palliative care are applied in the clinical setting. The author will then introduce the client chosen for the case study and identify an aspect of their care that is going to be explored and explain the reasoning behind this. Finally there will be an overall conclusion with recommendations made for future practice based on the authors' critique.

The World Health Organisation (2002) stated that the goal of palliative care is to control Millie Carter's pain and other symptoms associated with the whole person, being their body, soul and mind, whilst enabling patients like Millie Carter and their families to maintain a quality of life. However there are many definitions from various authors about the principles and philosophy of palliative care but they all relate to the same basis and that is that the philosophy and principles of palliative care is to look after the Millie Carter as a whole and not just treat the illness with the main focus being that the Millie Carter has the best quality of life possible and is allowed to die with dignity (Kemp, 1995). Faull, Carter and Daniels (2005) and Watson, Lucas, Hoy and Back (2005) define that palliative care is not a substitute for other care but a means to compliment it, therefore ensuring the Millie Carter and family gets the optimum care and the best quality of life possible, whilst encompassing the whole person, spiritually and psychologically.

Potter and Frisch (2007) explain the concept of holistic care and define it as a holism approach to care, by looking after all aspects of the Millie Carter, incorporating the body, mind and soul. Watson et al (2005) confirm that holistic care is looking after the whole person and not just the disease, be this psychologically, spiritually or socially. The whole concept of holistic care is defined in the World Health Organisation guidelines (2002) as it states that the psychological and spiritual needs of a Millie Carter is to be incorporated into their care. Doyle, Hanks, Cherny and Calman (2005) explain how therapeutic practice is an important part of palliative care nursing and it can be performed by all members of the inter-disciplinary team at different levels. They also go on to say that therapeutic practice can be formed as therapeutic relationships between nursing team and Millie Carter and their families or it can be through therapeutic interventions like counselling or therapeutic massage. The author relates this to the team he works in and the volunteer service will go and sit with patients like Millie Carter giving family time to do other things, or the counsellor ...