The Palliative Care Approach

On many occasions a disease becomes unresponsive to treatments that should cure it or perhaps increase the lifespan of the patient. When this circumstance arises, the main concern will be how to improve the quality of life. This may be achieved via physical, psychological as well as spiritual aid for the patient.

Palliative care can provide many services, whether in a hospital or elsewhere e.g., the family home. A specialized unit of people dedicated to palliative care will offer continuing services and assistance to the patient and to the family.

There will be hospital and consultation services. In addition to this will be the people that will visit and provide care in the home. Palliative care providers are highly skilled in relieving psychological and emotional pain and suffering for the patient and family.

Palliative care services are provided either by private or public organizations. As the family and patient's needs change, the facility required may also change. A patient with a degenerative disease in the early stages may be capably cared for by his or her spouse or family member in the home but that may change as the condition becomes more acute.

Palliative care can then be given in a hospital, an individual palliative care unit or in a nursing home. A lot of elderly people can fall victim to poor health and/or succumb to a serious illness that may eventually cause their death. Palliative care is geared to the particular needs of senior citizens, such as understanding depression in the elderly, providing respite care for the emotionally and physically exhausted family of the patient. This vital care, when offered in the home, is done so in conjunction with a private palliative services business or a public health care center.

Adapted from: Expression, Volume 11, Number 3, Spring 1998. Health Canada.