Palliation, end-of-life care and burns; practical issues, spiritual care and care of the family – A narrative review II

• Main Authors: Daan den Hollander, Rene Albertyn, Julia Ambler
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2020-12-01
• Series: African Journal of Emergency Medicine
• Subjects: Palliative care; End-of-life care; Burns; Spiritual care
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211419X20300793

Palliative care is the turn from cure as the priority of care to symptom relief and comfort care. Although very little is published in the burn literature on palliative care, guidelines can be gleaned from the general literature on palliative care, particularly for acute surgical and critical care patients. This second article discusses practical issues around palliative care for burn patients, such as pain and fluid management, withdrawal of ventilator support and wound care, as well as spiritual and family issues. This paper forms part two, of two narrative reviews on the topic of palliation, end-of-life care and burns. The first part considered concepts, decision-making and communication. It was published in volume 10, issue 2, June 2020, pages 95–98.