Corticosteroid-induced diabetes in palliative care.

Background: Corticosteroids are one of the most commonly used medications in palliative care. Although the benefit of corticosteroids generally outweighs the risk in the palliative population, side effects are common and necessitate careful consideration prior to prescribing. In March of 2010, a guideline for monitoring blood glucose values was implemented as part of our standard care within our two inpatient tertiary palliative care units.

Palliative sedation: nurses' perceptions.

Patients with advanced illnesses suffer from a myriad of distressing symptoms. Palliative care aims to alleviate the distress caused by such symptoms. In extreme circumstances palliative sedation may be implemented to manage symptom distress that is not responsive to standard treatment modalities.

Palliative sedation therapy: a review of definitions and usage.

Palliative care clinicians are faced with the challenge of managing a multitude of complex symptom combinations in patients for whom they care. Although many symptoms respond favourably to established protocols, others may remain refractory to such intervention. It is within the context of trying to manage such symptoms that the issue of palliative sedation therapy arises.