Singer P A, MacDonald N
University of Toronto Joint Centre for Bioethics, ON.
CMAJ. 1998 Jul 28;159(2):159-62.
A physician who receives a call from the emergency department to see a patient with heart failure will have a clear framework within which to approach this problem. The thesis of this article is that physicians do not have an analogous conceptual framework for approaching end-of-life care. The authors present and describe a framework for end-of-life care with 3 main elements: control of pain and other symptoms, the use of life-sustaining treatments and support of those who are dying and their families. This 3-part framework can be used by clinicians at the bedside to focus their effort in improving the quality of end-of-life care.
接到急诊科电话去诊治一名心力衰竭患者的医生，会有一个清晰的框架来处理这个问题。本文的论点是，医生在处理临终关怀问题时没有类似的概念框架。作者提出并描述了一个临终关怀框架，它有三个主要要素：控制疼痛和其他症状、使用维持生命的治疗方法以及支持临终者及其家人。这个由三部分组成的框架可供床边的临床医生使用，以集中精力提高临终关怀的质量。
