ABSTRACT
Good management of physical symptoms is pivotal to the practice of compassionate palliative medicine. When assessing symptoms it is extremely important to pay attention not only to the occurrence of the symptom, i.e. timing, duration and severity, but to the meaning it has for the patient, i.e.: what effect it has on their daily living and how distressing it is for them. Patients with life-threatening conditions can present with many different symptoms. In this way, the assessment should encompass the physical, social, psychological, emotional and spiritual dimensions of the problem for that person. Although most of the data regarding these symptoms has been collected from observing patients with cancer, many patients in the end stages of life experience similar symptoms, regardless of the underlying pathology. It is rare for patients to present with a single symptom. The patient with multiple symptoms can be a daunting prospect for the professional.
