Palliative sedation for refractory psychological distress management: a flowchart

Abstract

There is little consensus in the literature on how refractory psychological distress, a serious clinical challenge that may occur at end of life, should be managed. This case report focuses on a patient hospitalized at the Hospital de Apoio in Brasília, who required palliative sedation for refractory psychological distress relief and obtained satisfactory symptom control. A flowchart was elaborated based on bibliographic review which included the European guidelines for palliative sedation, a useful tool for clinical cases in palliative care.

Keywords
Palliative medicine; Hospice care; Personal autonomy; Psychological distress; Deep sedation; Case reports