Dysthanasia and palliative care: nursing in palliative care

Abstract

According to the World Federation of Right to Die Societies the term Comfort Care is often used as a synonym for Palliative Care. Palliative Care encompasses in its concept the management of pain and symptoms, support for the patient and family, and the opportunity to achieve a meaningful closure to life. Thus, the article delves into various texts to understand the role of the nursing professional in the maintenance and promotion of health in view of palliative care. Thus, the guiding question of this article is: in the national scientific scenario, how is palliative care presented in the nursing field? The bibliographic review, as a data collection technique, was selected, aligning itself with the expectations of this work, which is to present a broad discussion on the theme in question. This work was carried out from a search on the Google Academic platform, which presented the bases PubMed, Virtual Health Library (VHL) and Portal Capes. The descriptors used were “Palliative care”, “dysthanasia” and “nursing care”, applying a time cut from 2015 to 2023, being selected 30 articles with titles associated with the terms “nursing and complications associated with palliative care”. From the analysis of the articles, it was noted that the professional nurse, in palliative care, must be qualified to make accurate assessments, lead, plan, and have the human eye when practicing care. These assessments result in the nurse’s ability to develop plans for dealing with symptoms and side effects: constipation from narcotic analgesics, nausea and vomiting, lethargy, insomnia, anxiety, and dyspnea. The nurse and the multidisciplinary team responsible for implementing techniques to minimize these problems that are painful for patients and family members who are present in the face of their loved one’s suffering.