Submitted by: Nikara Borden,
BSc SRT
Palliative Care
Palliative care is a type of specialized care, with the objective of reducing suffering while improving quality of life in those experiencing advanced illnesses/diseases (Hospice Palliative Care Ontario, n.d.). This type of care is also used to help prepare families before, during and after patient death (Quill & Miller, 2014). These care teams are made up of numerous professionals such as physicians, social workers, bereavement support workers and pharmacists, among others. Palliative care can be provided in various settings – at home or in hospitals, hospices, and long-term care facilities (Government of Canada, 2019). An obstacle affecting palliative care is the lack of knowledge surrounding it, causing it to be very subjective. There are still ambiguities when identifying who will benefit from it and when to implement it. This can ultimately result in delays in patient care (Wallerstedt, Benzein, Schildmeijer & Sandgren, 2018).
Wallerstedt et al. (2018) Article Summary
Wallerstedt and colleagues explored perceptions of palliative care by healthcare providers. Their study contained 74 healthcare professionals, who all had experience with palliative care, from numerous municipalities in south Sweden. The study was conducted using focus groups. Participants were sampled from hospital wards, as well as nursing homes and home care settings. The study revealed that palliative care, as a whole, is a “blurred and confusing concept” and a challenge to discuss as it has been described as “end-of-life care” and “terminal care” (p. 78). The authors refer to how other studies have established that an unclear comprehension of the term ‘palliative care’ promotes incompetent and/or underutilization of palliative care. Many physicians also found that having a conversation regarding palliative care with their patients and families acted as a barrier to initiating this care. This caused numerous practitioners to delegate nurses to have conversations on their behalf, or to postpone or omit the conversation altogether. Lastly, this highlights that interprofessional collaboration is essential to providing palliative care, and such care could be improved using pre-emptive, diverse teamwork earlier on. The article concluded that the current vague understanding of palliative care negatively impacts health care providers, the quality of care provided, and the family’s emotions.
Importance of Palliative Care
Palliative care is imperative, as it enhances quality of life and minimizes suffering. By controlling and managing symptoms through this type of care, patients can enjoy the time they have with their families, making it a more positive experience for everyone (Crossroads Hospice & Palliative Care, 2019). Furthermore, palliative care is important as prompt delivery can reduce the use of services and avoidable hospital admissions (World Health Organization, 2020). This is extremely crucial during the pandemic. Through early delivery of palliative care, we can keep patients out of hospitals, have more beds and services available for those who need them, and reduce practitioner workload.
What Needs to be Done
Only 14% of people who require palliative care worldwide actually receive it (World Health Organization, 2020). As the global population continues to live longer and with more comorbidities than ever before, the need for palliative care will continue to intensify. More education, programs, resources, and policies regarding palliative care are necessary to improve access while refining what it is, who will benefit from it, and when to promptly shift from curable treatment to palliative care (Wallerstedt et al., 2018).
References
Crossroads Hospice & Palliative Care. [2019, March 14]. Why is Palliative Care Important?
Government of Canada. [2019, August 27]. Palliative Care.
https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/palliative-care.html
Hospice Palliative Care Ontario. (n.d.). About Hospice Palliative Care. https://www.hpco.ca/who-we-are/about-hospice-palliative-care/
Quill, T. (Ed.). & Miller, F. (Ed.). (2014). Palliative Care and Ethics. Oxford University Press. https://eds.a.ebscohost.com/eds/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzc1MjYyNl9fQU41?sid=80e2a5eb-d381-43c9-920b-54d5643d9ab3@sessionmgr4006&vid=4&format=EB&rid=6
Wallerstedt, B., Benzein, E., Schildmeijer, K., & Sandgren, A. (2018). What is palliative care? Perceptions of healthcare professionals. Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences, 33(1), 77–84. https://doi.org/10.1111/scs.12603
World Health Organization. [2020, August 05]. Palliative Care. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/palliative-care
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