至尊英语阅读资料之健康与卫生专题第87集.pdfVIP

health articles 87 [2151]All You Need To Know About Palliative Care As a form of specialized medical practice, palliative care is a fairly new and modern method of helping patients who are diagnosed with a serious condition or are terminally ill to be as calm and free from pain as is medically possible. This form of care also attempts to alleviate the psychological problems associated with illnesses such as cancer. This article aims to provide an understanding of the concept of palliative care, a brief history of how this branch of medicine came to be established and finally an insight into how effective palliative care is administered. What is Palliative Care? The principles of palliative care are to alleviate pain, reduce suffering, to provide psychological help and to provide a network of support for the patients friends and family. This form of care primarily focuses on treating the effects of an illness both on the patient and those around them. This process is clear in its definitive goals and is in place from the moment a person is diagnosed, through the treatment and the eventual outcome. This focus can be either the physical and mental well-being of the patient or the relatives following bereavement. Where Did Palliative Care Come From? The origins of palliative care can be traced back to the hospice movement in the last century. In countries such as Ireland and England, many people would travel from place to place and often fall ill whilst in transit. Hospices were established by the Church and other religious organizations that were designed to help many of the people that fell ill between destinations and as such did not have the care of their families. In more recent times, these principles of altruistic care have been developed within the United States to help benefit over one million ill and terminally-ill people. This concept was originally adopted by volunteer groups, before being established as a significant and important p