Glossary of common palliative care terms

Term

Explanation

Aesthenia

Loss or lack of body strength, weakness, debility.

Akathisia

Inability to remain motionless.

Allodynia

Pain from something does not normally cause pain (for example, touch, light pressure, moderate cold or warmth).

Anaemia

A deficiency in the red blood cells (component of your blood that carries oxygen).

Antalgic

Relieving pain. Can relate to medication, or patient behaviour which is protective or avoiding.

Bradyphrenia

Slow mental processes.

Breakthrough pain

Pain that occurs between regular doses of an analgesic (drug that relieves pain) and requires an additional dose of analgesic (Therapeutic Guidelines).

Care plan

An individual plan setting out how your care is to be conducted (MA).

Central pain

Pain associated with a lesion of the central nervous system.

Central sensitisation

The phenomenon that is clinically manifested by hyperalgesia and allodynia beyond the area of pain.

Clinical care

Relating to the treatment of patients.

Clinical observation

Observing the patient’s physical condition and symptoms (not from blood or other laboratory tests).

Clinician

A trained health professional providing clinical service (for example, doctor, nurse, physiotherapist).

CSCI

Continuous Subcutaneous Infusion improves patient comfort by administration of medications at a constant rate to assist in successful control of a variety of symptoms.

Dysaesthesia

An unpleasant abnormal sensation (for example, a feeling of ants crawling on the skin).

EPSE

(Extra Pyradimal Side Effects)

Physical symptoms, including tremor, slurred speech, akathisia, dystonia, bradyphrenia (restlessness, twitching and jerking, and slow mental processes) anxiety, distress, and paranoia.

Goal of care

Groups the aims of realistic medical treatment outcome related to their stage of illness (curable, palliative or terminal).

Healthcare team

Health professionals who are involved in the patient’s care.

Hyperaesthesia

Increased sensitivity to stimulation, excluding the special senses.

Hyperalgesia

An increased response to a stimulus which is normally painful.

Interdisciplinary

When two or more medical disciplines combine to better support the patient’s care.

Multidisciplinary

Making use of several medical disciplines at once.

Neuralgia

Pain in the distribution of a nerve or nerves.

Neuritis

Inflammation of a nerve or nerves.

Neuroleptic

Effects on cognition and behaviour of antipsychotic drugs, which produce a state of apathy, lack of initiative and limited range of emotion and in psychotic patients cause a reduction in confusion and agitation and normalisation of psychomotor activity.

Neuropathy

A disturbance of function or pathological change in a nerve.

Nausea

The feeling of wanting to vomit.

Opioid

Any of various sedative narcotics containing opium or one or more of its natural or synthetic derivatives.

Pain

An unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage.

PEG

(Percutaneous Endoscopic Gastrostomy)

The placing of a feeding tube directly into the stomach through the skin of the abdomen.

Person Responsible

A person responsible makes decisions for children and adults who have a disability and who are incapable of consenting to treatment.

The person responsible is not necessarily the patient's next of kin.

If the patient is a child, the person responsible is the child's guardian or in all other cases the child's parent.

If the patient is an adult, the person responsible in priority order is either:

It is the responsibility of the medical practitioner recommending treatment to determine whether a person qualifies as the patient's person responsible. If the medical practitioner cannot decide between competing persons, the matter should be referred to the Board.

There can only be one person responsible for the patient.

Refractory

Resisting ordinary methods of treatment.

Respite

Respite is a period of rest and recovery.

In palliative care respite can be provided for carers for regular short periods, such as having a volunteer stay with the patient an afternoon a week so that the carer can leave the house or providing a period of inpatient care so that the carer can rest and revitalise.

Retching

Rhythmic spasmodic contractions of the diaphragm and abdominal muscles.

Specialist Palliative Care Service (SPCS)

A service with specialist skills, knowledge and experience, dedicated to the practice of palliative care.

Therapeutic ratio

The balance of the benefits and adverse effects of a treatment. To be offered a treatment’s ratio must be favourable (the benefits that can reasonably be expected must outweigh the harms).

Treatment Abatement

A term that encompasses stopping a treatment, and not starting it in the first place. It applies to:

Volar

Relating to the palm of the hand or the sole of the foot.

Vomiting

The expulsion of the gastric contents through the mouth caused by forceful contraction of the abdominal muscles and diaphragm.