title: The syringe driver--an aid to delivering symptom control.
abstract: The specialist palliative care service continues to evolve, with a growing emphasis on its advisory role to support colleagues in the community and hospital settings. Part of this role involves disseminating knowledge and experience of providing symptom control to patients with advanced malignant disease. As an aid to providing relief from distressing symptoms including pain, agitation, nausea and vomiting, the syringe driver has proven its worth. However, outside the field of palliative care there is often a misunderstanding as to what a syringe driver can offer and its limitations when used. This article aims to explain the role of the syringe driver and to provide practical guidance for its use.
authors.affiliation: Swansea NHS Trust.
authors.forename: Colin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Perdue
mesh_terms: D016903:Drug Monitoring; D006801:Humans; D007260:Infusion Pumps; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000451:nursing; D010166:Palliative Care; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D018579:Patient Selection