Palliative Care In Palliative Care

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Palliative care is an essential to the creation of a health and wellbeing continuum for Australians living with a chronic illness. It is an approach of care that seeks to improve the life of patients and family experiencing the effects of chronic illness. Palliative care centres on the relief of the symptoms and effects of disease and incorporate the physical, psychological and social dimensions of a person at the end of life. A recent focus for the delivery of palliative care by nurses to Indigenous communities is the consideration that culture can create barriers to the provision of appropriate and beneficial care for the dying or deceased person. This essay explores the palliative nurse caring for Indigenous communities and the need to consider …show more content…

The difference is that Indigenous people maintain a cyclic nature of death and return to the land whereas a contemporary Western view sees transitions as a need for families to cope and understand the “fading away of a person” (Ferrell & Coyle, 2010). The palliative care nurse needs to appreciate that in Indigenous communities, large numbers of Indigenous people may be expected to visit the patient and talk amongst themselves to carry out “sorry business”. For the nurse it becomes paramount to facilitate this interaction and process through the development of rapport with family and community members to allow cooperation and mutual respect (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Branch, 2011). The importance of creating a therapeutic relationship that facilitates the freedom of the community in the palliative space and interaction between health professionals and Indigenous groups was shown by Pam McGrath in an interview with indigenous people caring for a palliative family member. McGrath reported the family member explaining that many of the issues they had to deal with regarded having to define to family members and health professionals who can actually help with the care of the patient (Mcgrath, …show more content…

For many Indigenous people the customs following the death of a family or community remember is called “sorry business’, an indicator to all that there has been a death in the community (NSW Department of Community Services, 2009). Sorry business refers to the customary protocols that some Indigenous cultures adhere to and include sending the spirit of the deceased person into the next world and identifying the cause of death (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Branch, 2011). For many Indigenous the cultures the spirit leaves the body upon death and the spirit must be assisted in its journey to next word. One of the customary protocols to assist the spirit include the practice of not mentioning the name of the deceased for months or years after the death (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Branch, 2011). Not mentioning the person’s name allows the spirit to be unhindered in its passing and therefore not recalled to the world it has

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