Palliative Care: A Concept Analysis

Abstract

Objective: Palliative care is a defined medical specialty, and it is focused on helping patients and families who are facing serious illness achieve the best possible quality of life. Despite the extensive literature available about palliative care, it still has imprecise due to its involvement in different specialties and disciplines of healthcare. Therefore, it is crucial to clarify what is meant by palliative care and defines its defining attributes, antecedents and consequences. Method: This study adopted Walker and Avant’s concept analysis approach for analyzing palliative care concept. A thorough literature search was performed in PubMed, CINAHL and Embase databases during the period (1970-2021). A total of 17 articles were reviewed and used to achieve the study objective. Result: After reviewing the screened articles, the study formulated a definition of palliative care as the meaningful and intentional holistic care of patients suffering from terminal illnesses caused by acknowledging and minimize symptoms that would deter the patients’ quality of life while achieving patient dignity by utilizing compassion and support. The study revealed that the defining attributes of palliative care include Holistic, compassion, support, individualized, realistic care. Conclusion: Palliative care was identified as holistic, compassion, supportive and individualized realistic care provided for patients suffering serious illness in order to achieve the desired level of quality of life.