Case Study on the Patient with Ovarian Cancer: Palliative Nursing Management

This case study is on a 59 year old female patient who was admitted to the medical ward due to severe abdominal pain. Four years ago, she was diagnosed with Carcinoma in the Ovary. She underwent – Total abdominal hysterectomy (TAH), bilateral Salpingooophorectomy (BSO) and Omentectomy. Chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatments followed the surgery. She had been diagnosed with Diabetes Mellitus & Hypertension too. This patient mainly showed significant pain, abdominal distension, and gastrointestinal dysfunction. Apart from the other physical symptoms, she showed psychological and spiritual problems too. During the assessment her eyes were full of tears. She was highly worried about her health condition & worried about her elder son who is unable come the see her because he lives abroad. The sensitive aspect of this patient was her psychological status. More attention must be paid to alleviate anxiety and depression. The holistic approach is very important in caring for a patient on palliative care. There was a problem found with her caregiver at home. Because she lives with her husband and her younger son is at home. A Caregiver plays a major role in caring for this palliative patient. Therefore, it is essential to assess the caregiver condition for preventing caregiver burden. In providing nursing care for this patient to relieve pain and other physical problems they used pharmacological and nonpharmacological interventions. Though her pain & other physical problems were relieved by the day her psychological status was deteriorating. This may have caused depression and anxiety. It is suggested to take care of the patient's mental health and to implement appropriate psychological strategies, nursing interventions, and precautionary measures to minimize the level of psychological distress and to increase patient’s quality of life. Keywords: Ovarian cancers, Anxiety, Depression, Spiritual needs