The palliative care workforce includes general practitioners, specialist palliative medicine physicians, other medical specialists, palliative care nurses, and pharmacists, as well as other allied health professionals and support staff.
According to AMA President Professor Steve Robson, each of these organizations, along with volunteers, plays a unique and vital role in assisting people with
to receive comprehensive, patient-centered care throughout their illness, both at home and in healthcare settings such as hospitals, aged care facilities, and palliative care facilities (
).
“Death, dying, and bereavement are all unavoidable and integral parts of life, but we struggle with them. Even for healthcare professionals, reflecting on and discussing death with patients and their families can be profoundly confronting and difficult.”
The Need to Have Conversations About Death
“We need to be able to have open and frank discussions and be educated about death and dying, so we can normalize and encourage discussion on these topics, both in the medical profession and in the wider community.”
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“There is a lot to understand about the role and purpose of palliative care, advance care plans, non-beneficial treatment, caring, and bereavement. We could all be better prepared if we took the time to look into these issues and what they mean for families. National Palliative Care Week is the perfect time to do this.”
What is Palliative Care?
Palliative care is a broad term that refers to treatment aimed at relieving pain and controlling symptoms when there is no reasonable hope of a cure. Palliative care is frequently beneficial to people who have advanced chronic illnesses or life-limiting disorders. It focuses on the full individual, including body, mind, and spirit, in order to improve comfort and preserve dignity (2✔ ✔Trusted Source
A Definition of Palliative Care
Go to source
).
Palliative care, as defined by the World Health Organization:
-
Offers respite from pain and other painful symptoms - Believes in life and accepts death as a natural process
- Does not intend to hasten or postpone death
- Considers both the psychological and spiritual components of patient care
- Provides a support structure to assist patients in living as actively as possible until death
- Provides a support system to assist the family in coping with the patient’s illness and their own bereavement
- Addresses the needs of patients and their families as a team, including bereavement counseling as needed
- Will improve quality of life and may have a favorable impact on the course of sickness
- Is useful early in the course of illness, in conjunction with other medicines aimed at extending life, such as chemotherapy or radiation therapy, and involves the studies required to better diagnose and manage distressing clinical consequences (3✔ ✔Trusted Source
About Palliative careGo to source
)
References :
- National Palliative Care Week 2023 – ‘Matters of Life and Death’ – (https://palliativecare.org.au/campaign/national-palliative-care-week-2023-matters-of-life-and-death/)
- A Definition of Palliative Care – (https://www.cdc.gov/training/ACP/page34830.html)
- About Palliative care – (https://www.who.int/health-topics/palliative-care)
Source: Medindia
