Authors : Priya T Nandimath, Priya T Nandimath
DOI : 10.18231/j.agems.2019.010
Volume : 6
Issue : 2
Year : 2019
Page No : 26-32
Palliative care and end of life care are relatively new concepts in dementia care. The provision of end of
life care and palliative care in the recent past has been emphasised for people with dementia rather than
focusing only on cancer. There are now a huge number of strategies and policies that support and highlight
the need for person cantered, high quality care for the people with dementia approaching towards the end
of life. Despite this there are numerous challenges and hurdles in improving and providing palliative and
end of life care. This is basically due to the fact that dementia is still not considered as terminal illness and
also because of the fact that the practitioners and the carers are still not certain on when to initiate end of
life care plan.
Physical, psychological, emotional, spiritual, nutritional, environmental, pain controls are the aspects to be
supported in end of life care. Decision making in provision of care plan during the end of life is very much
essential in order to provide a personhood care but in practice a little application is seen. Advanced care
planning for end of life care for people with dementia is still not practiced.
Cultural diversity and beliefs towards the death are to be considered as important aspects in provision of
end of life care. The practitioners should be adequately informed about the cultural beliefs. There is also
a considerable lack of training among the care staff regarding the cultural belief and communication skills.
Spiritual integrity is also important for provision of end of life care.
Promotion of palliative and end of life care along with changing the attitude towards looking at death is
very essential for people with dementia.
Keywords: Palliative care end of life care.