Navigating End-of-Life Care with Compassion: A Guide for Healthcare Workers
Undoubtedly, healthcare workers are heroes who don’t wear capes. They are at the forefront, providing care and support to patients, no matter their underlying health condition with some being at their most vulnerable moment in life. When a patient starts to deteriorate rapidly towards the end of life, a certain level of a delicate, realistic blend of medical and compassionate care is applied with a touch of empathy and not sympathy. In this post, we will delicately explore the right way for healthcare workers to act during this stage in their occupation, navigating through emotional challenges, to ensure that every patient receives the dignity, comfort and care they deserve.
Always ensure you read the care plan of any service user before you attend to them. This helps you avoid issues that go against the care plan, it helps you stay professional, and it helps you stay away from healthcare issues.
1. Open Communication
Establishing open and honest communication with a patient is significant to them because some might not have a family opportunity to be there for them like you are, so you play the family and friend role. If possible, freely listen and contribute when the patient wants to talk about their transition to the end of life. Encourage and don’t cut short the expression from the patient when they start talking. Listen to their goals and concerns, in addition to whatever they are interested in talking about.
2. Compassionate and Empathetic
The need for healthcare workers to be empathetic can never be overemphasized. People who are in it for the money never get away with hiding it, because it shows. It is never hard to be empathetic to a person going through a hard time in life. Being a compassionate and empathetic worker can provide some good comfort to the patient and their families. Try being patient, listen actively, and acknowledge their pains/concerns and all the emotional toll that their underlying health condition brings. Don’t always be in a haste to leave them alone.
3. Inclusive Family Discussions
You always mentally know the line that exists within the job as it concerns the confidentiality of the client or service users and the carer. But when you are allowed to get involved in the end of life conversations, involving the patient’s family is appropriate. From telling them what their loved one has said that may be worthy of noting, help them understand the stages and consequences of the health condition that their loved one is suffering from, its prognosis, the options that are left for the loved one, helping families understand enough to ask questions and clarify their doubt.
4. Encourage the Client’s decision-making abilities
Carers are expected to respect a patient’s autonomy in decision-making. If a patient is capable, please involve them in decisions that concern them, especially when it comes to their treatments and day-to-day preferences. prioritising their wishes and choices will make them feel heard, bringing them some measure of comfort and appreciation.
5. Pain and Symptom Management
Prioritise the effective pain and symptoms of the service users. Collaborating with the palliative care team to ensure the service user is as comfortable as possible, with regular assessment to identify and address symptoms in line with the care plan.
6. Prepare and Update Advance Care
Carers and families should discuss advanced care planning early enough when the service user can still speak and make sane decisions, with their wishes documented and respected, which will be updated as time goes on.
7. Ensure a Smooth Care Coordination
The most appropriate thing to do for your service user will be to enable seamless coordination of the various healthcare providers, this will help ensure that everyone is on the same page regarding the service user and their needs.
8. Cultural and Religious Sensitivity
Carers should endeavour to recognise a service user’s culture, family tradition, and religion, as this will enable them to align with the service user’s end-of-life tradition or religious practices, especially if they would love for their religious leader to visit them and have a final word of prayer with them.
9. Educate the patient and family
Be as clear as possible with the patient and their family, when it comes to the medical update, let them know what to expect in the coming days from the medical practitioner and what that means for the patient and their family. When more clarity is required by a family member, always direct them to do more reading, especially on how to best support the patient, while navigating the difficult phase of their life. In most cases, the family members are first updated about the medical development of their family members, and when this happens, they will become the ones to update on their health condition, and in that case, they become the ones to tell the health care company what update has been given.
10. Provide Anticipatory Guidance
To the best of your knowledge and expertise, you have to offer anticipatory guidance to prepare patients and their families for changes that might not have a pleasant outcome. For example, when the way a service user eats has to change from solid to puree because they have become prone to choking, it might become a little overwhelming for the family to accept that things may have deteriorated for their family member.
11. Respectfully Continue your end-of-life duty until the last breath
When you have a duty of care to an end-of-life patient, ensure you continue to it to the last breath, because a patient might look like they are as good as gone, yet they breathe. XCarers are always confused at this stage, wondering if it is worth their care. The service user is worth your duty of care, and continue the chosen end-of-life ritual or cultural practice that has been picked by the service user or a family member whose opinion they value. Continue to speak to them in their fragile state as study shows that they can still hear you, and might be able to respond. protect their dignity and make sure they do not look or smell horrible on their dying bed because this is something no one would want. If you picture them as a family member you hold dearly, you would do right by them. So going by your work ethic, religious requirement and conscience, you should do all in your power to make their helpless appearance as okay as possible.
12. Post- Mortem Support
Some care companies provide post-mortem services to their clients while others don’t. If your company does them that means you will need to maintain contact with the service user. But in a case where your company doesn’t, then you are expected to cut all communication and ties with the bereaved family, then do well to stay away from the family professionally. Do not pay visits or send flowers/gifts, unless you are related or a neighbour to the family, as your presence might remind the family of their loved one who just passed because they would have associated your presence with that of the service user. Carers are advised not to be emotional.
Conclusion
Unknown to most care workers and companies, when playing the role of a healthcare worker who is navigating the end of life for a service user, you are supporting the patient and their families at the same time. The care entails a medical and compassionate blend of feelings, in addition to open communication, inclusive family discussion, encouraging decision-making abilities and more, to contribute to compassionate and meaningful end-of-life, helping them achieve the medical, emotional and religious support they want for their end of life, to enable them peacefully transition.
