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EPDA - European Parkinsons Disease Association EPDA - European Parkinsons Disease Association EPDA - European Parkinsons Disease Association EPDA - European Parkinsons Disease Association EPDA - European Parkinsons Disease Association EPDA - European Parkinsons Disease Association EPDA - European Parkinsons Disease Association
PARKINSON'S DECISION AID
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1. Palliative Care

What is palliative care?

The term ‘palliative’ means to relieve without curing.

Palliative care is any medical treatment that aims to make life more comfortable for people with an advanced chronic, progressive condition.  It includes management of pain and symptoms, together with emotional, psychological and spiritual support.

Anyone of any age with an illness that either no longer responds to curative treatment, or for which there is no cure, might receive palliative care.

·According to the World Health Organisation1 : Palliative care is an approach that improves the quality of life of patients and their families facing the problems associated with life-threatening illness, through the prevention and relief of suffering by means of early identification and impeccable assessment and treatment of pain and other problems, physical, psychosocial and spiritual.  Palliative care:

  • provides relief from pain and other distressing symptoms
  • affirms life and regards dying as a normal process
  • intends neither to hasten nor postpone death
  • integrates the psychological and spiritual aspects of patient care
  • offers a support system to help patients live as actively as possible until death
  • offers a support system to help the family cope during the patient’s illness and in their own bereavement
  • uses a team approach to address the needs of patients and their families, including bereavement counselling, if indicated
  • will enhance quality of life, and may also positively influence the course of the illness.

 

References


  1. World Health Organisation Definition of Palliative Care