Pain Management and Palliative Care
Provided by a team of healthcare professionals, palliative care seeks to improve the quality of life of a patient living with a serious medical condition. Additionally, it has the potential to help decrease the level of stress and worry in the patient’s family or other loved ones1.
While palliative care is provided to people living with serious illnesses, it’s not given based on the forecast of their symptoms. Instead it provides care that adapts to giving the patient what they need to cope with their daily conditions.
In regards to the use of infusion sets, different people who require palliative care may benefit from infusion therapy that helps deal with pain management. Read on below to learn more about the topic.
What is palliative care?
Palliative care refers to specialised care centred on relieving pain and symptoms from people with severe illnesses. Its primary goal is to improve the quality of life for the patient who needs it.
Examples of use cases for palliative care
Although there’s a long list of cases where palliative care might be needed, the way in which it’s provided can vary.
The healthcare providers in the palliative care team will make an assessment of their patient’s needs. This assessment may include getting an overview of their patient’s symptoms, medications, and physical condition2.
Based on the assessment made, the first steps towards providing palliative care can be determined. This isn’t limited to care through medications, but could also include psychological or even spiritual help.
Palliative care can thus include many things, some examples are3:
- Medications
- Surgery
- Physical therapy
- Counselling
- Breathing exercises
- Nutritional changes
In certain cases, palliative care teams may look toward infusion care.
Infusion therapy
In pain management, it's preferred to use the least invasive route of administration for the prescribed drug. As a consequence, patients can be introduced to pain management medication through methods like oral administration.
However - especially if oral administration is not an option - subcutaneous infusion can also be considered as a method of drug administration.
Our Neria™ infusion sets
As relief and comfort are areas of focus in pain management, especially in palliative care, the soft cannula range of Neria™ infusion sets may be used. These infusion sets have a disconnect feature which makes the infusion sets convenient to use during long infusion periods, ultimately supporting the comfort of the user.
In general, however, the choice of infusion set should always be based on the healthcare professional’s assessment of each individual patient’s situation.
Neria™ Guard, Neria™ Soft & Neria™ infusion sets are intended for the subcutaneous infusion for pain management therapy.
1. Centre to advance palliative care: getpalliativecare.org. Accessed February 5, 2024. https://getpalliativecare.org/whatis/
2. Mayo Clinic Staff, Mayo Clinic: mayoclinic.org, June 6, 2023. Accessed February 5, 2024 https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/palliative-care/about/pac-20384637
3. Cancer.net Editorial Board, American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO): Cancer.net. November 2022. Accessed February 5, 2024. https://www.cancer.net/coping-with-cancer/physical-emotional-and-social-effects-cancer/types-palliative-and-supportive-care
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