What Is Palliative Care And What Is Its Importance?
Many people who are diagnosed with a chronic illness need palliative care. Today we will see what they consist of and how they can improve the quality of life of patients.
The WHO (World Health Organization) defines palliative care as the approach that improves the quality of life of patients and families who face problems associated with life-threatening diseases.
The goal is the prevention and relief of suffering, which is done through early identification and evaluation and treatment of pain as well as other physical and psychosocial problems. In this way, they are helped to have a better quality of life.
The diseases degenerative, usually need to resort to palliative care.
In cancer cases, especially if it is advanced, palliative care can help prolong the life of the patient by alleviating the side effects that chemotherapy treatment may have.
How does palliative care improve quality of life?
Next, we will see how palliative care achieves the goal of alleviating the suffering of patients.
They help cope with pain
Palliative care helps patients cope with pain effectively. In this way, it prevents it from having a negative impact on the daily life of the patient and their environment.
Treat depression
Pain together with suffering from a chronic or degenerative disease can cause the patient to suffer from depression. This can cause some sufferers to isolate themselves or begin to have suicidal ideas.
They allow to manage anxiety effectively
Along with depression, anxiety affects many patients who have a severe or chronic diagnosis. Sometimes it can even lead to panic attacks. Which can lead to somatizing emotions or suffering from sleep disorders.
They prevent delirium
The Delirium is a state of confusion that causes disturbance of consciousness, disorganized thinking and incongruity. This can disorient the patient and cause them to lose track of reality.
Palliative care is very helpful in these situations.
They solve problems with feeding
Patients with chronic diseases may have problems with eating, for example, anorexia and bulimia. Palliative care helps treat these types of disorders when they arise in these particular situations.
Improve social relationships
Patients with a chronic illness may isolate themselves from others because they believe they are a burden. This can affect your interpersonal relationships.
Palliative care will focus on relationships with family and close friends. They will even try to improve your relationship with yourself.
Palliative care is provided by a team of professionals such as doctors, psychologists, nutritionists, or social workers. In some cases, even people who are involved in religion contribute to the spiritual well-being of these patients.
The importance of the family in palliative care
There are several aspects that palliative care addresses in order to improve the quality of life of patients. But, there is something fundamental that this type of care, by itself, is unable to achieve, the support of the family.
However, the family is our great pillar. For this reason, the family must be involved when a patient is in palliative care.
In addition, all the benefits that palliative care offers are also intended for those closest to the patient.
Thus, in the event that the patient has been diagnosed with terminal cancer and dies, the family will better cope with the loss.
We have to bear in mind that although the priority of palliative care is to alleviate the suffering of the patient, the people around him also feel pain.
In this way, in cases where a patient dies, the family will be able to start a grieving process in a healthy way. This way they will be able to go through all its stages until they reach acceptance and be able to continue with their life.
