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“Palliative care is an approach that improves the quality of life of patients

and their families facing the problem associated with life-threatening illness,

through the prevention and relief of suffering by interdisciplinary team

taking into consideration physiological, psychosocial, and spiritual needs”.

Suffering: Suffering is loss of meaning. Suffering occurs when there is a gap

between expectation and reality.

Principles of palliative care:

Focus on quality rather than quantity of life. Effective communication at all

levels. Respect for autonomy and choice. Effective symptom management.

Holistic, multi-professional approach. Caring about the person and family.

It is the right of the patients not to feel pain, suffering or fear at all stages of the disease:Palliative care is adding life to days. NOT adding days to life. It is

the right of the patients not to feel pain, suffering or fear at all stages of the

disease. Holistic approach is essentials for the relieve of suffering.

Pain Management:

Pain is an important and under-treated symptom of life-threatening illness.

Correct use of analgesic medication, following the guidelines of the WHO

step ladder, with the addition of adjuvant analgesics, should control the

pain in nearly all cases. Attention should also be given to other aspects of

pain, psychosocial or spiritual; sometimes called “total pain”. Bringing pain

under control and keeping it there means assessing each aspect of pain and

monitoring it. These are core skills of palliative care doctors and nurses.

Medications are the foundation of pain control. Anti-inflammatory, antidepressant

and steroid medication may also have a complementary role for

some patients and some sources of pain. Complementary measures are used

as well as medical treatments.