Title:

e-ELCA 04: Symptom management, comfort and wellbeing

Description:

This module provides resources which help you understand the principles of symptom management and offer an overview of the management of some commonly occurring symptoms in end-of-life care.

There are sessions which:
• introduce you to the principles of symptom management
• describe the assessment and management of commonly occurring symptoms in end-of-life care. For example, pain, breathlessness, nausea and vomiting, and constipation
• discuss the assessment of mood and management of mood-related conditions. For example, depression and anxiety
• describe the management of symptoms that demand an urgent response. For example, spinal cord compression, seizures, and bleeding
• discuss the management of the final phase of life, including death rattle, agitation, and restlessness and how to verify death
• discuss symptom management in more challenging situations. For example, when the person has learning difficulties or mental health problems, or when symptom management is complicated by other co-morbidities
• describe the management of a variety of other symptoms, including fatigue, sore mouth, and wound care, in the context of end-of-life care

The resources in the e-ELCA programme discuss sensitive topics including death, dying, the different stages of end-of-life and bereavement which may be distressing to some learners.

Hierarchy:

End of Life Care (e-ELCA) > e-ELCA 04: Symptom management, comfort and wellbeing

Keywords:

acupuncture, adjuvant analgesic, agitation, aids and adaptations, air, alfentanil, allied health professionals, anorexia, antidepressants, antiemetic, anxiety, assessment, assessment, assessment, belief, benzodiazepines, bleeding, bowel, bowel obstruction, breathlessness, buprenorphine, cachexia, care agencies, CBT, codeine, cognitive behavioural therapy, cognitive deterioration, cognitive deterioration, communication, complementary therapy, constipation, counsellor, crisis, criteria, culture, cyclizine, decision-making, depression, depressive symptoms, diet, dietitians, difficult pain, diminishing function, disease modification, drugs, dyspnoea, emergency, end of life care, ethnicity, faecal loading, faeculant vomiting, fan, fatigue, fentanyl, fluids, gastric dysmotility, gastric stasis, haemorrhage, haloperidol, hydromorphone, hypercalcaemia, impaction, infection, information, investigations, lasting power of attorney, laxatives, limitations, loss of appetite, mental capacity, methadone, methotrimeprazine, metoclopramide, mood, morphine, morphine, nausea, neurotransmitters, non-drug interventions, non-pharmacological, NSAID, occupational therapy, oxycodone, oxygen, pain, paracetamol, pathophysiology, patient-centred, pharmacological approaches, physical deterioration, physiotherapy, positioning, preferences, prochlorperazine, psychological approaches, psychologist, refusal of treatment, rehabilitation, renal impairment, ritual, seizures, sepsis, social worker, spinal cord compression, stool, ‘strong’ opioids, subcutaneous infusion, suppositories, symptom management, syringe driver, TENS, tools for detecting depression, tramadol, transition, usefulness, vomiting, weight loss, ‘weak’ opioids, WHO ladder

Created:

12 Oct 2009

Updated:

4 Aug 2021