Symptom Management in Palliative and End of Life Care

Gwen Klepping is the consultant pharmacist in Palliative and End of Life Care for Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust, encompassing Sobell House and Katharine House Hospices. She is a committee member of the Association of Supportive and Palliative Care Pharmacy and represents ASPCP on the Affiliated Partners Group for the Faculty of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society and also for the Ambitions for Palliative and EoLC. She is a regular tutor with the Oxford Centre for Education and Research in Palliative Care, presenter at national conferences and is published in journals and textbooks. Gwen was a member of the Guideline Development Group for NICE Care of the Dying Adult Guidelines and Quality Standards for Last days of Life. She was made a Fellow of the Faculty of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society in 2013 for her work in advancing Pharmacy in Palliative and EoLC.

This session will focus on the common symptoms experienced in palliative patients especially in the dying phase. As the patient deteriorates their current medication regime may no longer be appropriate or manageable. The treatment target changes to comfort and symptom management with inappropriate medicines, observations and tests discontinued. An assessment of the patient’s symptoms and anticipated symptoms is made with medicines prescribed to manage these often using the subcutaneous route for when the oral route is no longer available. This session is aimed at enhancing the knowledge and skills of non-specialist pharmacists and technicians thereby improving the quality of the care delivered, whatever the setting, to those who are reaching end of life and their families/carers.

Foundation level for non-palliative care specialists.