Celebrating our palliative care staff during Palliative Care Week: Ayra

Arya has been working as a palliative care nurse at Kalamunda Hospital for 11 years.

For Arya, the main objective of palliative care is to provide optimum comfort and quality of life.

“If you can achieve that – it is the best reward for a palliative care professional,” she said.

Arya says a common misconception of Palliative care is that it is just “end of life’ care.

“It’s more than that,” she said.

“Palliative care includes symptom management and providing quality of life in different aspects, so the patient can live as long as possible.”

She believes to be a good palliative care health professional takes the observance of all EMHS values.

“As a health care professional in palliative care, kindness and respect are like two sides of the same coin,” she said.

“It is our responsibility to show kindness to those suffering from a life limiting disease and respect their feelings and attitudes.

“It is necessary to collaborate with other health professionals and to provide amazing care and make patients comfortable.”

“It is everyone’s responsibility to maintain integrity and accountability in their work – and palliative care does not differ from other clinical areas in this respect.”

Lastly, Ayra knows it takes time, dedication, and experience to be an excellent palliative care professional.

“It can be challenging as it can take significant medical professional input to make patients comfortable and settled.”

Despite the challenges, Ayra thinks all healthcare professionals should work in palliative care at some point in their careers.