Clinical considerations

Addressing symptom and practice issues 

Allied Health professionals will often work in clinical practice, and there are considerations for patients and families who have palliative care needs.

Managing symptoms

A comprehensive assessment of symptoms is required before a management plan can be put in place. Palliative care patients often have quite complex problems that do not always respond to conventional treatments.

Symptoms can be physical, psycho-social or spiritual and are often best managed through a multidisciplinary approach. Prioritising which symptoms need to be addressed first may help to improve the patient’s quality of life, without introducing too many interventions all at once. The patients’ priorities may be different from those that you identify.

Specific symptoms that Allied Health Professionals may be involved in include: Fatigue management, dyspnoea, pain, mobility, pressure areas, anxiety, dysphagia and communication, anorexia.

There are a wide range of resources that can support allied health to learn about symptoms and symptom management. The CareSearch Clinical Evidence pages have summaries of the evidence around common palliative care symptoms.