Palliation, end-of-life care and burns; concepts, decision-making and communication - A narrative review

Daan den Hollander; Rene Albertyn; Julia Amber

doi:10.1016/j.afjem.2020.01.003

Palliation, end-of-life care and burns; concepts, decision-making and communication - A narrative review

Afr J Emerg Med. 2020 Jun;10(2):95-98. doi: 10.1016/j.afjem.2020.01.003. Epub 2020 Feb 9.

Authors

Daan den Hollander^{1

2}, Rene Albertyn³, Julia Amber⁴

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, South Africa.
⁴ Palliative Care Practitioner, Department of Pediatrics, 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. Palliative care may be started because of futility, on request of the patient, or because of limited resources. The SPIKES acronym is a useful guide to avoid errors in communication with terminal patients and their relatives.

Keywords: Burns; Futility; Giving bad news; Palliative care.

Publication types

Review