(Snippets from the frontline)
Palliative and hospice care jargonese
Hospice care is essential to assure minimal pain and suffering at end-of-life. This awareness has evolved over the past two decades, and those in discomfort were given a compassionate option in medical decision-making.
Most patients and family members do not understand the concept of palliative or hospice care, yet they are not alone as many medical professionals have no counseling expertise for those in the process of dying.
Frontline primary care physicians must be adept deciphering the reverberations of aging and failing health as the body gets older. Having longterm rapport and good communication allows sensitive guidance toward end-of-life.
Medical jargonese frequently impedes understanding and discussion of palliative and hospice care resulting in possible exploitation by those capitalizing on the uninformed.
Simply, palliative care is recognizing medical options lessen with age, and each treatment (including surgery, medication, chemotherapy, etc.) should be carefully weighed not to create more harm than good.
Hospice care is initiated when you are dying, where pain and suffering might be overwhelming. This is end-of-life and typically is a short period of time.
Too simplified?
It’s better than jargonese.
Gene Uzawa Dorio, M.D.
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