Everyone knows the slogan of football commentators “Goal!” When a successful shot is scored in one goal or another. American football, baseball, and basketball announcers are almost no different. The narrators review the game in their quick speeches and, with increasing excitement, wait for a successful goal or throw-in in the basket with the whole arena and spectators at home, and then chant the shouts of victory with everyone. The only exception is probably hockey, where the announcer’s cry is replaced by a loud signal as the arena crowd chants with joy.

In general, the success of such a sport is measured by the ability of a person or team to receive and pass the ball to each other in a specific location. Both defeat and victory are very clearly defined, and victory is accompanied by abundant and loudly expressed joy.

The success of palliative care is not defined in exactly the same way as at a sporting event. "Winning" and even "losing" in palliative care take on a different nature. In fact, perhaps the closest analogy to a successful palliative care course could be an interview with the losing team to talk about the satisfaction with how he or she played the game, how he felt when he left the field after playing well with teammates, or being prepared to eat well and fall asleep.

The purpose of palliative care is to alleviate suffering.

The main goal of palliative care is to alleviate any suffering so that patients can live and feel comfortable due to the reduced pain. It focuses on improving the quality of life of patients with chronic or fatal diseases.

A medical diagnosis of the disease is usually accompanied by a treatment plan or review of medications and procedures that can help cure the disease in the long term or reduce the symptoms of the problem in the short term. For example, once a cancer is diagnosed, the patient is likely to develop a treatment plan that includes chemotherapy or cancer-killing medications that can cause a number of unpleasant side effects, including, but not limited to, nausea, vomiting, exhaustion, and pain of joint.

Whether in the case of a terminal illness, chemotherapy is for the treatment of the disease or for the management of the disease, palliative care is designed to help patients manage the discomfort and suffering that treatment often causes. In this way, palliative care is not always inextricably linked to hospice care, as palliative care is focused on pain management, whether it is pain management for those who are expected to live or for those facing a definitive diagnosis.

Origin of the term "Palliative"

The term "palliative" comes from the Latin word "cloak" or, in other words, a heavy winter coat that covers and protects the body from adverse weather conditions like a shield. The goal of palliative care is to “wrap the patient in a winter coat, cloak” or simply reduce any unpleasant symptoms of the disease so that the patient can live as comfortably as possible. Palliative care works in isolation with any medical professional and strives to ensure that all medications and all available procedures are consistent with palliative care plans.

Care of comfort

Finally, palliative care is not part of therapeutic treatment. It is precisely care of comfort that works for the benefit of patients together with primary care providers and professionals. Comfort care can create a well-being environment that encourages treatment, but is not a cure itself. Studies have shown that those patients who have not yet made a definitive diagnosis recover more quickly from illness and injury after receiving palliative care. Patients who experience the effects of the disease but do not receive palliative care recover much longer.

Hospice care is a type of palliative care

Palliative care is available to anyone suffering from persistent pain, regardless of long-term prognosis or outcome. However, hospice care is for patients whose doctors have reported that they probably have six months or less left to live. Admittedly, it is very difficult for anyone to accept that the time has come to consider palliative and hospice care for them or their loved ones.

Most often, the public hears about palliative care as closely related to hospice care. However, palliative care is a separate service designed to manage the consequences of a patient’s severe diagnosis or trauma. Palliative care nurses ensure that medications and treatment plans alleviate suffering immediately, but also monitor long-term effects, benefits, and overall recovery.

Article prepared by: https://www.harborlighthospice.com/blog/goal-of-palliative-care/