Maher Fergus, Mammas Ioannis N, Spandidos Demetrios A
Department of Palliative Medicine, Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals, NHS Foundation Trust, NR4 7UY Norwich, UK.
Norwich Medical School, University of East Anglia, NR4 7TJ Norwich, UK.
Med Int (Lond). 2023 Apr 13;3(3):24. doi: 10.3892/mi.2023.84. eCollection 2023 May-Jun.
Palliative medicine focuses on the quality of life of patients with incurable conditions, who require the adequate relief of physical symptoms, adequate information to make decisions and spiritual wellbeing. Generalist palliative care is provided by family members, general practitioners, care home workers, community nurses and social care providers, as well as non-specialist hospital doctors and nurses. Patients with more complex, physical or psycho-social problems require the shared work of specialized doctors in palliative medicine, nurses, social workers and allied professionals. It is estimated that ~40 million patients require palliative care annually, worldwide; of these, 8 out of 10 patients reside in low- or middle-income countries, and only ~14% are able to access this type of care. Palliative medicine was recognised as a distinct medical specialty in the UK in 1987, with its own specialist curriculum and training pathway, which was recently revised in 2022. The main obstacles that palliative medicine had to overcome in order to be accepted as a separate specialization were the following: i) Defining a unique body of knowledge; ii) standardisation of training; and iii) proving that it warranted being a specialty in its own right. Over the past decade, it has been accepted as more than end-of-life care, supporting patients with an incurable illness at much earlier stages. Given the current absence of specialized palliative care in low- or middle-income countries, as well as the aging population across most European countries and the USA, it is estimated that there may be an increasing need and demand for specialists in palliative medicine in the ensuing years. This article is based on a webinar on palliative medicine, which was performed on October 20, 2022 in the context of the '8th Workshop of Paediatric Virology' organized by the Institute of Paediatric Virology based on the island of Euboea (Greece).
姑息医学关注患有不治之症患者的生活质量，这些患者需要充分缓解身体症状、获得足够的信息以做出决策以及实现精神健康。全科姑息治疗由家庭成员、全科医生、养老院工作人员、社区护士和社会护理提供者，以及非专科医院医生和护士提供。患有更复杂的身体或心理社会问题的患者需要姑息医学专科医生、护士、社会工作者和相关专业人员共同协作。据估计，全球每年约有4000万患者需要姑息治疗；其中，十分之八的患者生活在低收入或中等收入国家，只有约14%的患者能够获得此类护理。1987年，姑息医学在英国被确认为一个独立的医学专科，有其自己的专科课程和培训途径，该途径最近于2022年进行了修订。姑息医学为被接受为一个独立专科而必须克服的主要障碍如下：i）定义独特的知识体系；ii）培训标准化；iii）证明其本身有资格成为一个专科。在过去十年中，它已被视为不仅仅是临终关怀，而是在更早阶段为患有不治之症的患者提供支持。鉴于目前低收入或中等收入国家缺乏专门的姑息治疗，以及大多数欧洲国家和美国的人口老龄化，预计在接下来的几年里，对姑息医学专家的需求可能会不断增加。本文基于2022年10月20日在希腊埃维亚岛儿科病毒学研究所组织的“第八届儿科病毒学研讨会”背景下举行的一次关于姑息医学的网络研讨会。
