Care of Sick Children Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Care of Sick Children - Essay Example This entails that the care continues even if the child does not receive direct treatment for the diagnosed disease. Health professionals are entitled to evaluate and alleviate a number of issues relating to the child. These issues include physical and psychological well-being of the concerned child. Moreover, medical professionals are also entitled to consider the social distress of the affected child. In order to have an effective palliative care, it requires application of a multidisciplinary approach. This means that in palliative care, the family of the child is supposed to make their contribution and be ready to assist with available resources. However, palliative care also takes place even if there are limited resources. Another significant issue is that palliative care can be provided in various areas. These areas include various tertiary care facilities and public health centers. Palliative care can also be provided in the affected children’s home. There is close conne ction of palliative care with a child’s death. Death tends to be the only issue that hampers application of and access of palliative care to children. However, even with the occurrence of the death, palliative care is entitled to take place as one of the components of treatments. Through palliative care, children and their families get the opportunity of having a new hope for the life of the affected. Palliative care also helps in preparing the families for the worst that might occur any time, which in this case is death. Challenges that nurses encounter when implementing palliative care to children The child’s awareness and understanding of their dying One of the main challenges that tend to affect nurses when implementing palliative care to children is stress (McCloskey et al., 233). Many people often consider the death of a child as unnatural event. This mentality contributes in making many of the nurses to be psychologically affected knowing that the affected child may succumb to death any time. Stress also comes because of the demanding responsibilities associated with caring for children with terminal illnesses (O'Leary 435). Mostly, these responsibilities contribute in making anticipatory anxiety to nurses when addressing the needs of these children. Newly employed nurses into this field are the one who seem to be mostly affected with the issue of stress. This is because they are in most cases practically unfamiliar with the psychological situation that these children and their parents go through. The other main challenge associated with implementing palliative care to children is uncertainty of prognosis. Prognostication refers or in most cases is acknowledged as the employment of inaccurate medical science in adult palliative care (O'Leary 435). However, this issue is mostly more complicated and challenging in children compared to adults. Most of the children affected with this condition are those with non-malignant disease (Junger et al ., 6). There are cases where some children with terminal illnesses have lived beyond the estimation of prognosis. In such cases, the affected children have apparently lived in various terminal phases (O'Leary 435). This has resulted to health professionals or nurses revisiting the various addressed issues now and then. Some of these issues include artificial hydration and nutrition. They also tend to check on appropriateness of further investigations of which is a challenge