DUSHANBE, October 5, 2009, Asia-Plus — A seminar for specialists from the Ministry of Health (MoH) on basic principles of providing palliative care will be held in Dushanbe on October 6.
The seminar, which is part of the Public Health Program of the Tajik Branch of Open Society Institute/Assistance Foundation (OSI/AF-Tajikistan), is expected to bring together 55 specialists, both physicians and paramedical personnel, in adult and pediatric oncology, HIV/AIDS issues and nursing from all regions of the country.
Experts from the United States – Ely, John Charles, Director of Palliative Medicine Services, Hennepin County Medical Center, Ellison Neil Michael, Open Society Institute, Director of Palliative Medicine Program, Thomas J. Smith, the Medical Director of the Palliative Care Unit at Massey Cancer Center of Virginia Commonwealth University, Mary Callaway, Director of the International Palliative Care Initiative in New York – have been invited to conduct the seminar.
The seminar participants will consider the following subjects: the elements and the models of support for incurable patients, timely planning and individual treatment programming in accordance with the patients’ needs; the psychological patterns of communication with incurable patients and members of their families; adequate pain relief of incurable patients and reduction of other symptoms in accordance with recent achievements in medicine; and rules and approaches in prescription and abolition of therapy under the palliative care.
Palliative care (from Latin palliare, to cloak) is any form of medical care or treatment that concentrates on reducing the severity of disease symptoms, rather than striving to halt, delay, or reverse progression of the disease itself or provide a cure. The goal is to prevent and relieve suffering and to improve quality of life for people facing serious, complex illness. Non-hospice palliative care is not dependent on prognosis and is offered in conjunction with curative and all other appropriate forms of medical treatment. Palliative treatments may also be used to alleviate the side effects of curative treatments, such as relieving the nausea associated with chemotherapy.
The term “palliative care” is increasingly used with regard to diseases other than cancer such as chronic, progressive pulmonary disorders, renal disease, chronic heart failure, and progressive neurological conditions. n addition, the rapidly growing field of pediatric palliative care has clearly shown the need for services geared specifically for children with serious illness.
Although the concept of palliative care is not new, most physicians have traditionally concentrated on trying to cure patients. Treatments for the alleviation of symptoms were viewed as hazardous and seen as inviting addiction and other unwanted side effects.
The focus on a patient”s quality of life has increased greatly during the past twenty years. In the United States today, 55% of hospitals with more than 100 beds offer a palliative-care program,
and nearly one-fifth of community hospitals have palliative-care programs.
A relatively recent development is the concept of a dedicated health care team that is entirely geared toward palliative treatment: a palliative-care team.
