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

Daan den Hollander; Rene Albertyn; Julia Ambler

doi:10.1016/j.afjem.2020.07.011

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

Afr J Emerg Med. 2020 Dec;10(4):256-260. doi: 10.1016/j.afjem.2020.07.011. Epub 2020 Sep 8.

Authors

Daan den Hollander^{1

2}, Rene Albertyn³, Julia Ambler⁴

Affiliations

¹ Burns Unit, Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital, Durban, South Africa.
² Department of Surgery, University of KwaZulu Natal, South Africa.
³ Red Cross Memorial Children's Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa.
⁴ Palliative Care Practitioner, Department of Paediatrics, Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital, Durban, South Africa.

Abstract

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.

Keywords: Burns; End-of-life care; Palliative care; Spiritual care.

Publication types

Review