Practical Care for a Palliative Care Patient

This part of the website deals with the practical aspects of comfort. These issues will come up with the patient and family, and their health care team. Often an occupational therapist or the home care nurse is involved in setting up some of the equipment and environment most helpful to the patient, and this is addressed once a patient is referred to the Palliative Care Program and Benefits Program.

There are some things that family and friends can do to help a person feel comfortable, whether that person at home or in a hospice or hospital. People with serious illness often lose control over many aspects of their day-to-day care, so as much as possible, find out what the patient would like before helping out.

Many people will have personal preferences about receiving physical care. Does the patient feel comfortable being cared for by a man? A woman? How does the patient feel about receiving care from family members or a friend? Sometimes patients are comfortable receiving certain aspects of care from family members, such as mouth or skin care, but would prefer that more intimate types of care, such as bathing, be provided by professional staff.

What follows are ideas developed from our experience in for providing “comfort care” to patients. Remember that if a patient experiences severe pain with bodily movement, or in an area being cared for, a "breakthrough" dose of their pain medication (i.e. an may be required about 20 minutes before you attend to them. Patients become very adept at telling you they may need this, but it is always safest to ask.