Palliative care overview

Palliative care is a medical modality focused on improving the quality of life of people with serious illnesses, aiming to relieve pain and other symptoms while providing psychological and social support. Its core goal isrelieve painRather than curing diseases, it is suitable for end-stage patients such as cancer and organ failure. The main contents include pain management, symptom control, psychological counseling and family care. Unlike hospice, palliative care can intervene early and run concurrently with conventional care.

The core goals and scope of palliative care

The core of palliative care is“Whole Person Care”, that is, paying attention to the patient's physical, emotional and social needs. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines it as “the prevention and relief of suffering through early identification and comprehensive assessment.” Applicable groups include patients with advanced cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), heart failure, etc. For example, controlling cancer pain with drugs such as morphine, or relieving anxiety through psychological counseling, both fall under the scope of palliative care.

Specific measures for palliative care

In practice, the palliative care team usually includes doctors, nurses, social workers and psychological counselors. Measures are divided into three categories:Symptom management(such as antiemetic, analgesia),psychological support(such as depression intervention) andhome assistance(such as end-of-life communication guidance). For example, St. Christopher's Care Center in the UK adopts a multidisciplinary collaboration model to customize personalized plans for patients and significantly improve the quality of life in the terminal stage.

The difference between palliative care and hospice care

Although both have similar goals, palliative careIntervention time is earlier, which can be initiated when a serious illness is diagnosed; hospice care is typically provided in the final months of life. Data from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) show that early palliative care can extend the survival of patients with advanced lung cancer by 2.7 months. Some tertiary hospitals in China have opened palliative care departments, such as the "Palliative Care Team" of Peking Union Medical College Hospital.

Summary and Outlook

Palliative care fills the gap of traditional medical care in focusing on patients' quality of life and has become an important branch of modern medicine. In the future, public education and policy support need to be strengthened, such as Canada’s adoption of the Palliative Care Framework Act to promote national coverage. Patients' families can obtain services through formal institutions (such as Shanghai Xinhua Hospital Hospice) to avoid misleading through informal channels.

Product and manufacturer examples(Non-advertisement):
-Morphine sulfate extended-release tablets(Manufacturer: Mundipharma) For cancer pain management
-psychological assessment tools(e.g. Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale) Developed by the University of Alberta, Canada