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So what is so special about specialist palliative care?
Affiliations- Hospital of St John and St Elizabeth, 60 Grove End Road, NW8 9NH London, United Kingdom
open access
Abstract
Introduction. Palliative care is primarily concerned with improving the quality of life of patients with
life-limiting diseases. End of life care represents the care of patients approaching the very end of life and
has traditionally been and will likely remain a focus of specialist palliative care, there is a shift towards
helping patients live to their fullest until they die.
Discussion. As a result, there is an ever-increasing number of early referrals from colleagues working in
other specialities allowing specialist palliative care to offer interventions that can positively impact the
quality of their lives. Multiprofessional specialist palliative care training has been key to developing the
human resource in the speciality. There is a dearth of specialist palliative care human resources across the
globe and as referrals increase, we will need more palliative care specialists to keep up with the increasing
workload. Moving forwards all health care professionals will have an increasing role to play in the provision
of palliative care.
Conclusions. There has been an increasing body of research in palliative medicine that has informed the
practice of palliative care. Given the paucity of the evidence base in the speciality, we need to invest more
time and resources into this area as well.
Abstract
Introduction. Palliative care is primarily concerned with improving the quality of life of patients with
life-limiting diseases. End of life care represents the care of patients approaching the very end of life and
has traditionally been and will likely remain a focus of specialist palliative care, there is a shift towards
helping patients live to their fullest until they die.
Discussion. As a result, there is an ever-increasing number of early referrals from colleagues working in
other specialities allowing specialist palliative care to offer interventions that can positively impact the
quality of their lives. Multiprofessional specialist palliative care training has been key to developing the
human resource in the speciality. There is a dearth of specialist palliative care human resources across the
globe and as referrals increase, we will need more palliative care specialists to keep up with the increasing
workload. Moving forwards all health care professionals will have an increasing role to play in the provision
of palliative care.
Conclusions. There has been an increasing body of research in palliative medicine that has informed the
practice of palliative care. Given the paucity of the evidence base in the speciality, we need to invest more
time and resources into this area as well.
Keywords
palliative care, enhanced supportive care, research, quality of life
About this articleTitle
So what is so special about specialist palliative care?
Journal
Palliative Medicine in Practice
Issue
Article type
Brief communication
Pages
271-274
Published online
2021-10-14
Page views
5909
Article views/downloads
220
DOI
10.5603/PMPI.2021.0028
Bibliographic record
Palliat Med Pract 2021;15(4):271-274.
Keywords
palliative care
enhanced supportive care
research
quality of life
Authors
Sheikh Moeen ul Haq
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