Palliative Care
The last phase in the life of a cancer patient requires special attention and care. Once it is clear that nothing more can be done to cure the patient, physicians and nursing staff change their approach and concentrate on preventing or relieving pain and improving the patient's quality of life. Support for the patient's family is also an important aspect of palliative care.
In our hospital, it is not just the physicians and nursing staff who work on providing palliative care. An integral part of the team are physiotherapists, breathing therapists, psychotherapists, social workers and workers doing spiritual welfare work. The foundation of our work is Cicely Saunders’s message that “You can’t give life more days, but you can give more life to your days.”
By palliative care we mean that:
- We provide relief of pain and other distressing symptoms
- We take psychological and spiritual aspects into account and make the patient the centre of our attention
- We support the patient in living an active and empowered life for as long as possible
- We help the family to accept the patient's situation and to support him or her
- Modern treatments improving the quality of life such as radiation therapy, chemotherapy and surgery play an important role in palliative care, unless their disadvantages outweigh the benefits
- We provide dignified and respectful end-of-life care
Send Link
Print view
Sitemap
