Speck Peter
Cicely Saunders Institute for Palliative Care, Policy & Rehabilitation, King's College London, London, UK.
Postgrad Med J. 2016 Jun;92(1088):341-5. doi: 10.1136/postgradmedj-2015-133369. Epub 2016 Mar 1.
Palliative care advocates a holistic, multiprofessional approach to the care of people with life-threatening disease. In addition to the control of physical symptoms attention should also be paid to psychosocial, cultural and spiritual aspects of the patient's experience of illness. Guidance documents and research evidence reflect the complexity of the patient's journey and the need to regularly assess these areas of need over time. Cultural background can shape how patients respond to life-threatening illness, as can the beliefs held by the patients, whether religious or more broadly spiritual. Research evidence shows the importance of identifying and addressing cultural and spiritual aspects of care held by patients, families and staff. These are often neglected in clinical practice due to the focus on biomedical concerns and staff discomfort in engaging with beliefs and culture. Recent studies have highlighted gaps in the research, and some methodological difficulties and indicate many patients welcome healthcare staff enquiring about the importance of their beliefs and culture. Identifying research priorities is necessary to guide future research and strengthen the evidence base.
姑息治疗提倡采用整体、多专业的方法来照顾患有危及生命疾病的患者。除了控制身体症状外，还应关注患者疾病体验中的心理社会、文化和精神层面。指导文件和研究证据反映了患者就医过程的复杂性以及随着时间推移定期评估这些需求领域的必要性。文化背景会影响患者对危及生命疾病的反应，患者所秉持的信念（无论是宗教信仰还是更广泛的精神信仰）也会产生同样的影响。研究证据表明，识别并解决患者、家属和医护人员在护理方面的文化和精神层面问题非常重要。由于专注于生物医学问题以及医护人员在涉及信仰和文化时感到不适，这些方面在临床实践中常常被忽视。最近的研究突出了研究中的差距以及一些方法上的困难，并表明许多患者欢迎医护人员询问他们的信仰和文化的重要性。确定研究重点对于指导未来研究和加强证据基础是必要的。
