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The secret of palliative care: How to improve the quality of life of terminally ill patients?
When facing serious illness and terminal conditions, patients and their families often suffer tremendous physical and psychological stress. This not only affects the patient's physical condition, but may also affect his or her quality of life. Palliative care, a medical model that focuses on improving the quality of life, is receiving increasing attention. According to the definition of the World Health Organization (WHO), this is an intervention method aimed at improving the quality of life of patients facing life-threatening diseases and their families, focusing on early identification and assessment of pain, and then providing effective treatment.
The core of palliative care is patient-centered, focusing on relieving pain, and tailoring medical measures to improve the quality of life of terminally ill patients.
Departing from the palliative care approach of the past that focused on specific illnesses, today’s practices increasingly emphasize comprehensive support systems that cover physical, emotional, and spiritual needs. This not only promotes comfort at every stage of the disease, but also improves the patient's overall well-being during treatment. Anyone of any age facing a serious illness can benefit from this therapy and can provide support at different stages of treatment.
Scope of Palliative Care
The benefits of palliative care can be seen in three main areas: providing physical and emotional relief, facilitating patient-physician communication and decision making, and facilitating effective interaction between care settings (such as hospitals, homes, and hospices). coordination. Ultimately, the goal of palliative care is to improve the quality of life of patients with serious illness and to reduce caregiver burden through specific pain and symptom management.
An estimated 40 million people require palliative care each year, yet only 14% receive such services, a key problem stemming from large disparities in access to care.
The difference between palliative care and hospice care
In the United States, palliative care focuses on comfort and psychological support and does not pursue curative treatment. Beneficiaries of this type of care must be certified by two doctors as being expected to die within six months in order to receive specialized palliative care services. When patients receive palliative care, they often have to choose to give up curative treatments.
Historical Background of Palliative Care
The development of palliative care can be traced back to the hospice movement, whose most famous promoters include Dame Cicely Saunders and Elisabeth Kübler-Ross. As research and practice deepened, the medical community began to realize that not only cancer patients need such services, but other patients with chronic diseases can also benefit from them, further promoting the process of gradual popularization.
Basic Practice of Palliative Care in the End of Life
The use of medications in palliative care is noteworthy, and although these common medications have different uses, their effectiveness still needs to be evaluated regularly. By integrating different therapies, including medication, psychological support and spirituality, patients' pain and anxiety can be fully cared for.
The so-called "comprehensive pain" is a complex of multiple factors including physiological, psychological and social factors. Only by deeply understanding these factors can we better support patients.
How to improve patients' quality of life
The professionalism of the treatment team and interdisciplinary collaboration are critical to the success of palliative care. Identification and support of psychological and spiritual needs can effectively alleviate the suffering of patients in the terminal stage. In addition, through family and community support, the quality of life of terminally ill patients can be improved together.
Challenges Ahead
In the face of global inequality in health resources, how to enable more patients to access and benefit from high-quality palliative care is an important challenge at present. What's more, how to educate the public to understand this medical model that will pay more attention to quality of life is also one of the future directions.
Ultimately, we should think about: When facing illness, how can we truly improve the patient's quality of life?
