CUIDADOS PALIATIVOS
What is palliative care?
Palliative care is the care provided to adults and children with serious illnesses that focuses on alleviating suffering and improving the quality of life of patients and their families, but which does not aim to cure the disease itself. . This care provides relief of symptoms, pain and stress to patients of any age or with illness at any stage. This attention must be provided along with the healing treatment.
Oncologists and nurses can provide palliative care, although they may need the assistance of a specialized team of doctors and nurses, as well as other specialists. This team of health professionals works together to provide additional support in order to meet the needs of patients and support both these and their families to achieve the goals of treatment.
Palliative care is also known as supportive care. This attention is aimed at alleviating suffering and improving the quality of life. Also, this care is designed to help people live the best they can for as long as they can, even when they have a serious illness.
Palliative care focuses on helping people get relief from symptoms caused by serious illnesses (such as nausea, pain, tiredness, or shortness of breath). Through the palliative care also helps to emotional and spiritual problems. The symptoms are treated, but it is not expected to cure any serious illness. The objective is to improve the quality of life of both the patient and the family. In the past, the term palliative care was used primarily to describe the act of improving patient comfort when aggressive treatment was no longer effective (the care offered at the end of life). (For more information on patient care when cancer treatment stops working, read Hospice Care).
Regardless of the name used, palliative care or supportive care has long been recognized as an important part in the treatment of cancer. For decades, palliative care was considered simply a part of cancer treatment. But more recently, this care is receiving much more attention and study. It has become a specialized field of knowledge and a standard part of the care provided by doctors and cancer care teams.
Palliative or supportive care is provided throughout the cancer experience as long as the person has symptoms that need to be controlled. This care can be offered from the moment of diagnosis until the end of life, and is appropriate for people of any age and with any serious illness regardless of their stage.
In addition, palliative or supportive care consists of giving patients options and promoting their participation in decisions about the care they receive. Through this care it is ensured that all the patient's needs are met, whether physical, emotional, spiritual or social.
Entrevista realizada por InterOncology Channel dentro del marco del Congreso Internacional de Estudiantes de Oncología,
COE XIV Navarra, España, Febrero 2018.
El Dr. Calvo nos habla de que significado tiene la palabra "compasión" dentro de los cuidados paliativos.
Entrevista realizada por InterOncology Channel dentro del marco del Congreso Internacional de Estudiantes de Oncología,
COE XIV Navarra, España, Febrero 2018.
La Dr. Arbea nos resume su participación en la charla sobre la compasión y la empatía, aspectos fundamentales para la doctora para ser un buen medico y oncólogo.