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Modules:
Introduction
1. Advance Care Planning
2. Communicating Bad News
3. Whole Patient Assessment
4. Pain Management
5. Assisted Suicide Debate
6. Anxiety, Delirium
7. Goals of Care
8. Sudden Illness
9. Medical Futility
10. Common Symptoms
11. Withholding Treatment
12. Last Hours of Living
13. Cultural Issues
14. Religion, Spirituality
15. Legal Issues
16. Social and Psychological
More About:
Hospice Care
Clergy and Faith Communities
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Important Questions About Common Physical Symptoms
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During advanced illness, pain management appropriately receives a great deal of attention and emphasis
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However, most patients suffer from other symptoms besides pain
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These symptoms can be more distressing than pain
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If unrelieved, symptoms preclude any possibility of relieving psychological, social, and spiritual suffering, improving quality of life, or completing life closure
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Misconceptions about symptom control
- Assumption that symptoms simply are clues to lead to diagnoses
- Assumption that symptoms will improve as the disease gets better
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Lack of understanding of associated pathophysiology, appropriate pharmacology, or therapeutic interventions to relieve suffering from symptoms
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Misconceptions and lack of understanding about the potential risks, interactions, or adverse effects of appropriate medications contributes to poor control of symptoms
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