Managing pain and other immediate symptoms becomes the primary clinical focus, as the care team works with the patient and caregivers to make emotional and practical preparations for the end of life. In fact, there are strict requirements that must be met to qualify for hospice care.
The support offered by hospice care is becoming widely recognized, but this level of care is specific to end-of-life, and its aim is to provide patients and loved ones with comfort, dignity, and companionship during that difficult time.
Less perilous effects - for example, pain, difficulty eating, or stress - don’t necessarily take top priority, but these can nevertheless impair a patient’s energy, abilities, and outlook. This is because the focus of curative care is on helping the body to heal, or at least stop declining symptoms such as dangerous fluid retention or insufficient oxygen intake are the most immediate concerns. In cases of chronic and/or life-threatening illnesses, however, curative care alone may not address all of a patient’s challenges. And in the case of a lesser malady, the positive outcome is enough - even if a prescription gives us nausea, we can live with it for just a few days, and be as good as new before we know it. This type of patient care, known as curative care, is what we are most accustomed to: we go to the doctor with the expectation that we’ll get better. Curative care: focus on resultsĪ physician diagnoses an illness, and then does what is necessary to reverse its course or slow its progression. What many patients coping with serious disease don’t realize, however, is that there is a magic word to get them the assistance they need, and that is ‘palliative care.’ Read on to learn how palliative care works in tandem with a patient’s existing treatment, but brings comfort and support within reach - you just need to ask. No matter how kindly patients ask, how well they are recovering or responding to treatment takes priority over less urgent quality-of-life concerns like lost appetite, insomnia, or unpleasant side effects. In the realm of health care and chronic disease management, the word ‘please’ has its limits (although politeness always has its place, of course). But by the time we reach adulthood and better understand politeness, the word loses a bit of its luster, no longer a mystical source of instant gratification. When adults teach children about manners, they might remind them to say ‘please’ by prompting, ‘What’s the magic word?’ This is our introduction to ‘please’ - as the gateway to getting anything we want, whenever we want it.
0 kommentar(er)
