Palliative treatment is a branch of medicine dealing with symptomatic treatment, pain relief and meeting the basic needs of life of seriously and terminally ill people and their families.
Palliative treatmenthas the primary goal of improving the quality of life of patients and, if possible, alleviating troublesome ailments, the feeling of discomfort and preventing suffering, and not persistently extending life.
Palliative care, i.e. caring for terminally ill patients, requires the cooperation of not only medical staff, doctors, nurses, physiotherapists and psychologists, but also people who provide patients with spiritual support in accordance with their faith.
Aims of palliative care and treatment
The main assumptions and goals of palliative medicine include the most effective reduction of the reported symptoms, ailments, pain and suffering of a chronically ill patient.
It is also very important to provide the dying patient with mental comfort, access to social and spiritual help, as well as psychological support. It is important to help the terminally ill person to accept the new life situation as well as death and dying as an inevitable part of everyone's life.
Palliative treatment: the art of communicating with the patient
The ability to talk to a terminally ill person and their family is a very important element of palliative care. Before starting the conversation, the doctor should prepare for it properly.
It is important not only to have medical knowledge about the course of the disease, its prognosis and methods of therapy, but also to have a peaceful environment, an intimate atmosphere and a quiet, comfortable room.
The doctor should answer any questions in a way that is understandable to the patient and together with him determine the expected purpose and method of further care. It is extremely important for the patient to be aware of the severity of his disease, the stage of its advancement and the knowledge about the prognosis, as well as understand its possible course.
Palliative treatment: support from a psychologist
Psychosocial support is a very important element of palliative care and treatment. An terminally ill person often feels lost in a new life situation, which they have suddenly left confronted with.
Talking to a psychologist can help patients reduce stress and uncertaintyrelated to a chronic disease, restore a sense of security, explain bothering doubts and fears, and find yourself in a new, completely different situation.
You can ask for the support of a professional using hospital care, as well as a home clinic or hospice.
Palliative medicine: treatment at the end of life
The most common symptoms of dying patients include pain, loss of appetite, sleep disturbances, constipation, nausea, shortness of breath, restlessness, and mental disorders. The overriding goal of palliative care and treatment of chronically ill patients is effective analgesic treatment.
It is not an easy task, because as the disease progresses, the symptoms gradually worsen, which requires constant monitoring, increasing and modifying the doses of painkillers.
It is very important not only to properly select painkillers and drugs supporting their action, but also their dosage and method of taking individually for each patient.
It is worth noting that the treatment of terminally ill people usually consists of several different pharmaceuticals, therefore proper and regular medication according to the schedule proposed by the doctor should effectively protect the patient against pain. Good communication, trust and mutual cooperation between the doctor and the patient are key in this situation.
Rights of the terminally ill
A patient with a life-threatening disease, most often staying in a hospice, has the same rights as any other patient and deserves decent medical care.
The physician should respect their autonomy and all decisions they make, whether or not they are in line with their own beliefs. Moreover, patients have the right to obtain and refuse to obtain information about their disease and its prognosis.
In this case, the doctor should respect the patient's will and if he has appointed a person authorized to obtain medical documentation and information (i.e. a he alth care representative) in writing, talk to him about the disease and the proposed therapy. The patient also has the right to receive spiritual and psychosocial support at every stage of the disease.
The vast majority of patients in the last weeks of life want to spend as much time as possible with their families at home. Thanks to the work of home hospice care it is possible and if the clinical condition of the patient allows it, he should grant his request.
It is very important not to apply persistent therapy at the right timewithdraw from activities that prolong the life of the sick and provide them with the comfort of dying that every human being deserves.