Compassionate Care in Cancer Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Compassionate Care in Cancer Management - Essay Example Compassionate care is an approach to treatment that aims to address the various issues affecting the lives of terminally ill individuals by improving their quality of life. Medical physicians and other healthcare personnel work to reduce any pain and discomfort and to make any other specific symptoms affecting these patients more manageable. This care is provided within an environment that the patients feels the most comfortable though they may be taken to hospital in the event any serious medical crisis occurs requiring specialized treatment. An important aspect of compassionate care is the provision of spiritual and psychological support to the terminally ill patients. These people have terminal diseases that are incurable and therefore have a limited time to live. As such, they suffer many psychological problems such as the feelings of grief, anger, anxiety, and sorrow because of the various diseases they have and the changes that have occurred in their lives because of those illnesses. In addition, they might feel a sense of guilt due to the feeling they are placing a large burden on their families, especially financial burden as the treatment of these diseases is very costly. Providing psychological and spiritual support to these patients is very important as it helps to address the various questions and concerns that they might have and to offer comfort as their lives draw closer to an end. It also helps those left behind to cope with the loss of the loved ones who have passed on. Erving Goffman established an important perspective to understand further the symbolic interaction perspective through the dramaturgical approach (Ditton, 78).