The principles of palliative symptom management:
- Symptoms can be affected by psychosocial, spiritual and existential distress: assessment of the whole person (body, mind, spirit) contributes to good symptom management
- A person cannot come to terms with their illness and the future if they have ongoing uncontrolled symptoms
- Drug and non-drug therapies are equally important
- Frequent reasssessment and adjustment of therapy is essential to achieving best symptom control
- Communication can be therapeutic: follow the talk tips and suggestions as part of the management
BC Guidelines Pain & Symptom Management Guidelines: detailed info & algorithms