Integrating a Palliative Approach: Essentials for Personal Support Workers

This book was written specifically for personal support workers, healthcare assistants, nurse's aides, etc. It will engage you with its warmth and heart, and provide you with the necessary resources and tools to respond to the needs of the dying and their families. Filled with practical strategies, stories of caregiving, and real-life scenarios, Integrating a Palliative Approach will increase your confidence and competence in providing compassionate care for the dying. In reading this book, you will learn the importance of • Integrating a palliative approach into the care of people with any life-threatening disease, early in the disease process, across all care settings • Reflection and maintaining therapeutic boundaries • Communication, and how to avoid roadblocks and open the doors to conversation You will also learn about • Common symptoms, and tools to help you gather information and provide comfort measures • Psychosocial needs, and how to create a nurturing place and respond in difficult situations • Last days and hours, and strategies to use in caring for the dying person and family • Self-care and compassion fatigue, and ways to care for yourself • The health care team, and strategies for advocating and communicating