Evidence-based approaches in palliative care nursing

Palliative care is a philosophy of care that starts at the moment of diagnosis of individuals with life-threatening disease, continues together with curative treatment until death, and supports families and other caregivers during grief process after death. Palliative care services aim to increase quality of life of patients and their families, and it is recommended that it is presented with an interdisciplinary team approach. Within this team, nurses have significant roles for evaluating and meeting requirements of patients and their families. Purpose of nurses in palliative care practices is to ensure that the patient lives as active as possible during the period between diagnosis and death, and go through a comfortable death process by increasing quality of life, to prevent them from suffering from ache and pain during terminal process, and to support family members during disease process and grief process after death. For this purpose, nurses shall use evidence-based practices instead of traditional practices and individual experiences during palliative care process; ensure standardization in care, prevent unnecessary practices, and increase quality of life of patients and their families. In this article, roles and responsibilities of nurses within interdisciplinary palliative care team, and evidence-based approaches that can be used by nurses in practices for palliative care are emphasized.