eive the benefits in quite the same way. Nurses have more prolonged contact with the patient than most other members of the team due to the hands on patient care that they do. They often establish a close rapport with the patient and the family and are most likely to be aware of the patients likes, dislikes, hopes and dreams and are privy to often delicate and very private details of the patients life. The very fact that the nurse spends so much time with the patient makes them more likely to have knowledge of this kind of information. Doctor’s rounds in a Palliative Care Unit enable the doctor to spend perhaps 30minutes maximum per day in talking to the patient. In the community, appointments times with Doctors are restrictive and Home Visits limited. Patient Nurse dependency ratios in hospitals and palliative care units mean that Nurses are spending approximately four hours per day on one to one patient contact. Again, other team members are very limited in the amount of time they spend with patients due to the number of clients/patients they may have. A dietitian for example may spend 15 minutes with a patient twice during their six-week stay in a Palliative Care Unit or 30 minutes as an outpatient during the course of the Terminal illness. Social workers often spend long periods at a time with patients and/or their families in lengthy discussion however these discussions may only take place a couple of times over the period of the illness. Therefore the Nurse is far more likely to be aware of issues affecting patient care. There can be many difficulties for the Nurse expert providing high quality care to palliative patients whilst respecting their right to autonomyIn the setting of the Palliative Care Unit, the role of the Nurse is to painstakingly assess the needs of patient and family. These needs may be constantly changing and there is no room for the Palliative Care Nurse to become complacent in her patient care. Symptoms ...
