Journal of pain and symptom management
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Sep 2015
"We Are Strangers Walking Into Their Life-Changing Event": How Prehospital Providers Manage Emergency Calls at the End of Life.
Emergency 911 calls are often made when the end stage of an advanced illness is accompanied by alarming symptoms and substantial anxiety for family caregivers, particularly when an approaching death is not anticipated. How prehospital providers (paramedics and emergency medical technicians) manage emergency calls near death influences how and where people will die, if their end-of-life choices are upheld and how appropriately health care resources are used. ⋯ The importance of managing symptom crises and stress responses that accompany the dying process is particularly germane to quality care at life's end. The results suggest the importance of increasing prehospital providers' abilities to uphold advance directives and patients' end-of-life wishes while managing family emotions near death.
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The concept of "ubuntu," a Nguni word, is found in many southern African cultures and means that we are part of all humanity and we are who we are through our interconnectedness with others. Children with life-limiting conditions often become isolated and take on a new identity in the eyes of others, linked to their illness and treatment. ⋯ The concept of ubuntu can help the child, the family, and the community to ensure the child remains connected to society. Programs providing palliative care for children often say they feel isolated; ubuntu principles are relevant to effective network development.
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