Palliative care, Pain management within the Health Agenda and the Anaesthetist

Abstract

Palliative care, a philosophy of care was pioneered as part of compassionate care for patients dying from cancer. But over the years, the specialty of palliative medicine has evolved for the care of adults and children with serious health-related suffering due to severe illness, especially those near the end of life. It is anchored by a team of professionals in health and social care and is a recognised area of expertise in improving quality of life for patients and their families. The primary tenet of palliative care is to relieve pain and other distressing symptoms, reduce suffering for patients and their families, promote peaceful end of life and bereavement support. Strengthening of palliative care as a component of comprehensive care throughout the life course has become a global agenda and there is great need for palliative care training as an integral component of ongoing education of health professionals. Pain is the most frequent distressing problem for both the patient and the family who need palliative care service and anaesthetists with subspecialty interest in palliative care can make immense contributions to development of pain and palliative care service and training especially in developing countries.

Keywords: Palliative care, pain, public health, Anaesthetist