title: Dyspnea management in palliative home care: a case series in malaysia.
abstract: Managing dyspnea at home is a challenging task. Although a competent palliative home care team can assist a patient to live at home with better pain control, dyspnea is usually not as well managed. In the Asian context, there are few research studies in dyspnea management in palliative home care. This paper aims to illustrate the cultural context that has an impact on dyspnea management at home and the assessment and management of dyspnea in a community palliative care setting in Malaysia. This paper reports on a study of 5 dyspneic patients suffering from both cancer-related and non-cancer-related dyspnea. Its focus is on a unique Asian cultural belief system that affects communication about prognosis and the role of family in palliative home care. In addition, this paper also describes dyspnea assessment, the barriers to morphine use, benzodiazepine prescription, oxygen therapy, and nonpharmacologic intervention in this center.
authors.affiliation: Discipline of Palliative and Supportive Services, Flinders University, Sturt Road, Bedford Park, South Australia, 5042, Australia ; Department of Social Medicine, Maesot General Hospital, Sripanich Road, Maesot Districts, Tak Province, Thailand, 63110, Australia.
authors.forename: Rojanasak
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Thongkhamcharoen
authors.forename: Katrina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Breaden
authors.forename: Meera
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Agar
authors.forename: Ednin
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hamzah
keywords: Asian perspective; Breathlessness; Community care; Dyspnea; Home care; Hospis Malaysia; Palliative