Practical management of the palliative care patient focuses on control of pain and other symptoms as well as strategies to help GPs support families and carers through the last stages of the patient's illness. Specific information on the following management topics can be found on other pages in this section:
Pain and other symptoms - assessment
A proactive approach to identifying problems is always appropriate. When assessing a palliative care patient, issues to consider are:
- Symptoms related to the underlying disease process
- Symptoms of any previous comorbid conditions
- Medication side effects
- Symptoms which become more common as the end-of-life approaches
- Any other factors that may reduce a person’s comfort or level of function.
Using simple assessment tools to document and monitor symptoms can increase the quality and efficiency of patient care, and improve communication between clinicians.
Pain and other symptoms - management strategies
Treating the cause
Where possible, and if clinically appropriate, the most effective way to control a symptom is by treating its cause. Decisions about treatment need to take into account both the person’s prognosis and their wishes.
Managing the symptom
The following resources contain up-to-date management advice on symptom control:
- Palliative Medicine Handbook
Free online book giving detailed, evidence based prescribing advice. This handbook was written in the United Kingdom - some medications listed may not be available or subsidised in Australia.
To use, follow the link above to connect to the site and then click in Notes on Prescribing.
- Therapeutic Guidelines - Palliative Care
These are the Australian consensus guidelines on management of palliative care patients. Not publicly available online for free but many GPs may have access rights already.
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This page was created on 26 May 2009 and is due for review in May 2011.