Journal of Palliative Care & Medicine
Open Access

Palliative care is a specialized medical care for people living with serious illness. It focuses on providing relief from the symptoms and stress of the illness and treated by a health care professionals like doctors, nurses and other specialists.

Palliative care mainly focuses on physiological and mental health of the patients. It provides a support system to patients and their family members who are suffering from serious life threatening diseases like cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (CPOD), Parkinson’s disease, congestive heart failure and many more. It is applicable to the people who are at the early stages of course of illness, whatever the disease the patient is suffering from.

There are 5 stages of palliative care and are categorized based on the function, pain, function, pain, psycho-spiritual problems, other physical problems, family and career support needs.

1. Stable Phase: the patients symptoms can be controlled by the management.

2. Unstable Phase: the pain will be worst in this stage and patient needs family support.

3. Deteriorating Phase: in this stage the existing symptoms gets worsen or appearance of new symptoms takes place.

4. Terminal Care Phase: it is an important role of medical practice and given to patients or individuals when they are likely to die within days.

5. Bereaved Phase: It is the stage associated with loss and grief and a process of reacting to your loss.

Symptoms of palliative care: it may include pain, depression, shortness of breath, fatigue, constipation, nausea, loss of appetite, difficulty sleeping, and anxiety.

Palliative care: types of cases

• Patients with Advanced cancer, end stage organ failure like acute heart failure, acute kidney injury, acute liver damage, and acute respiratory problems, and last stage neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson’s disease, dementia, and Spinal muscular atrophy.

• More recently patients included who are dying from acute illness and not responding to the active treatment.

Palliative care is a specialized medical care for people living with serious illness. It focuses on providing relief from the symptoms and stress of the illness and treated by a healh care professionals like doctors, nurses and other specialists. Palliative care focuses on physiological and mental health of the patients.

It provides a support system to patients and their family members who are suffering from serious life threatening diseases like cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (CPOD), Parkinson’s disease, congestive heart failure and many more. It is applicable to the people who are at the early stages of course of illness, whatever the disease the patient is suffering from.

There are types of care:

1. Palliative care principles: which apply to all care, whatever the disease the patient is suffering from. 2. Palliative techniques or therapies: this care includes surgical and medical procedures. 3. Specialist palliative care: SPC is carried out by a multiprofessional team with different occupations Symptoms of palliative care: it may include pain, depression, shortness of breath, fatigue, constipation, nausea, loss of appetite, difficulty sleeping, and anxiety. The team will help you gain the strength to carry on with daily life. In short, palliative care will help improve your quality of life. Recent studies have shown that people who received palliative care lived longer than the ones who did not. In congestive heart failure, heart is unable to pump your blood properly. It can cause breathing problems and other symptoms, such as weakness and swollen feet and ankles. Palliative care helps in managing side effects, symptoms and stresses