As future nurses in the healthcare field, we are taught to believe a person’s pain to be exactly what they say it is. Pain is very individualized and can be impacted by religion, culture, and personality. As healthcare professionals we typically ask the patient what their pain level is based on a number scale and treat their pain with medications and comfort measures accordingly. It can get difficult when the patient is at the end of their life and cannot express their pain. In this paper i will discuss how pain is assessed and managed during end of life care. There are two options for a person when they are wanting end of life care: palliative care, or hospice. Both of these options have pain management and comfort measures available, but …show more content…
The fear can be of death itself, the pain that comes along with it, or the knowledge deficit of treatment options. “Some barriers relate to patients, such as misconceptions about pain and treatments, fears and concerns about pain medications and side effects, reluctance to report pain and symptoms, and complexity of the symptom experience.” (Wilkie & Ezenwa, 2012) With the internet being such a big resource for patient’s to learn more about their symptoms and ways to manage them, they could easily be getting the wrong information. As health care professionals it is important to relieve anxiety due to the unknown and to address false perceptions to give them correct expectations. During the last days or hours before death, many patient’s experience increased restlessness caused by many types of pain including physical or emotional. This is referred to as “terminal restlessness.” As a caregiver during this phase of the dying process, it is important to look out for the signs related to each sign of pain. People all perceive pain differently and need to be given attention to their subjective symptoms. “Traditional medical care is often based upon a PRN approach, which means that medication is given as the situation demands.” (Leming & Dickinson, 2016). In order to give a PRN dose of medication, the patient needs to request the medication. This may be challenging for a patient who is on hospice and/or