Palliative care?

what are some of the key understandings involved when using the palliative approach in relation to the care of clients and their family?

I used to have a girlfriend who was a palliative care nurse. She was very emotionally involved in her work. She cared very much for the patients who were in her ward. She took it very personally when they died. I think that when a patient is admitted into the palliative care unit, they are in the best care that they can possibly receive. The people who work in these units understand that this is the end for the people who come into their care and they treat them like they're royalty because they need it. They have enough crap, health-wise to go through without having to deal with normal daily pressures. These people need to get their rest and focus on themselves and their families in their, sometimes, last hours together and in palliative care, they are allowed this.

As a pastor and chaplain the first key to care for the client and their family is....not doing anything
Sounds odd I realize, but the best place to start is to LISTEN to the client AND the family. I have found it truly amazing the amount of true care that I can give by allowing myself to be a sounding board for their concerns. Rest assured, those concerns and questions WILL BE different.
I start by allowing the client to ask me anything they wish. All questions are regarded by me as sacred and are not discussed, even with the family. It does not take long for those questions to take on a very reflective and, in some cases, theological bent. I answer ALL of them as TRUTHFULLY as I can. I don't pretend to know the future or the make up of heaven, even though I know who does.
The family is trickier, simply because I have found most to be simply not that communicative. Some are scared of the future, others want to ignore it in the hope it goes away.
Both client and family must work through those steps outlined by Elizabeth Kubler-Ross. Each must be shocked, get angry, bargain, and resolve the issues of not only dying but tying up the "loose ends" of life. This is no easy deal because each person in the family will work through them at their own speed.
When this work is done the "ease of death" as a teacher of mine identified it will come. There will certainly be a need for outside support to see to day to day activities - meals, cleaning, wash etc. but the essential work of palliative care is done - keeping the person and family whole in body, mind, and spirit while the natural process of dying takes it course. I hope I was of help to you. God bless