Pharmacological Treatment in Palliative Care. Drug Administration Route, Continuous Subcutaneous Infusion, Adverse Side Effects, Symptom Management
Dominguez Álvarez, R.ío.; Calderón Carrasco, J.; García Colchero, F.; Postigo Mota, S.; Alburquerque Medina, E.
Revista de Enfermeria 38(1): 54-58; 61-65
2015
ISSN/ISBN: 0210-5020 PMID: 26540909 Document Number: 680867
To achieve well-being in patients in Palliative Care is required to know which are the most common symptoms, which are the drugs used for relief, which are the routes of administration of drugs that are suitable, how effective the drugs are and what incompatibilities, interactions and adverse effects occur. The aim of this article is to review the relevant issues in the management of the drugs commonly used by nursing in Palliative Care and presenting recommendations to clinical practice. Management interventions drugs for nurses in Palliative Care recommended by the scientific literature after a search of Scopus, CINAHL, Medline, PubMed, UpToDate and Google Scholar are selected. The oral route is the choice for patients in palliative situation and subcutaneous route when the first is not available. The symptoms, complex, intense and moody, should be systematically reevaluated by the nurse, to predict when a possible decompensation of it needing extra dose of medication. Nurses must be able to recognize the imbalance of well-being and act quickly and effectively, to get relief to some unpleasant situations for the patient as the pain symptoms, dyspnea or delirium. For the proper administration of rescue medication, the nurse should know the methods of symptomatic evaluation, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of drugs, the time intervals to elapse between different rescues and nccocc rocnnnco t thocm