Revista de enfermería (Barcelona, Spain)
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To control the physical symptoms in end-of-life pharmacological management involves major intervention. The aim of this article is to review the relevant issues in the management of clinical nursing situation and drugs commonly used in palliative sedation in agony. ⋯ The goal of palliative sedation (PS) is to reduce the level of consciousness as the only way to relieve intense suffering in terminally ill patients, such as refractory delirium or dyspnea, massive bleeding, convulsive status, crackles premortem or refractory psychological suffering. The route of choice in PS is subcutaneous injection (sc). First line drugs in sedation are midazolam and levomepromazina. Opioids should be kept at equi-analgesic doses, morphine chloride being the most widely used. The fundamental role of nursing in SP is monitoring the level of sedation based on the Ramsay scale (or similar) and recognition of the indicative signs of discomfort for administration rescue sedative or analgesic medication and/or screening treatable intercurrent process (distended bladder, constipation, obstruction way, final dose effect, etc.).