Disclaimer

Oxford University Press makes no representation, express or implied, that the drug dosages in this book are correct. Readers must therefore always check the product information and clinical procedures with the most up to date published product information and data sheets provided by the manufacturers and the most recent codes of conduct and safety regulations. The authors and the publishers do not accept responsibility or legal liability for any errors in the text or for the misuse or misapplication of material in this work. Except where otherwise stated, drug dosages and recommendations are for the non-pregnant adult who is not breastfeeding.

Show Summary Details
Page of

The role of specialist palliative care 

The role of specialist palliative care
Chapter:
The role of specialist palliative care
Author(s):

Nicola Holtom

DOI:
10.1093/med/9780199664535.003.0030
Page of

PRINTED FROM OXFORD MEDICINE ONLINE (www.oxfordmedicine.com). © Oxford University Press, 2020. All Rights Reserved. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an individual user may print out a PDF of a single chapter of a title in Oxford Medicine Online for personal use (for details see Privacy Policy and Legal Notice).

date: 03 August 2020

Specialist palliative care is defined as the active holistic care of patients with advanced life threatening disease. It includes supporting the patient as they cope with the loss of health and adjustment to the fact that they have life threatening disease. Symptom management should be provided within a holistic framework as symptoms are rarely purely physical or psychological. Intractable symptoms inevitably impact on the mood and emotional well-being of patients and their carers. An understanding of these interactions and provision of patient-centred holistic care is fundamental to specialist palliative care. Although the supportive and palliative care guidelines states that palliative care may be applicable early in the course of the illness together with disease specific treatments, it would not be standard practice for patients having radical treatment to be referred to specialist palliative care. This case highlights the importance of specialist palliative care input for patients who are being treated with curative intent but are struggling with inordinate symptom burden or psychological distress.

Access to the complete content on Oxford Medicine Online requires a subscription or purchase. Public users are able to search the site and view the abstracts for each book and chapter without a subscription.

Please subscribe or login to access full text content.

If you have purchased a print title that contains an access token, please see the token for information about how to register your code.

For questions on access or troubleshooting, please check our FAQs, and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us.