Jana Hoozová
Palliative medicine is a specialized field of medicine that focuses on health care for pacients with progressive, incurable, lifethreatening malignant or non-malignant disease. Palliative care has medical and nursing components of care and respects that all people have 4-dimensional needs (physical, psychological, social and spiritual). Palliative care is an active and intensive aproach that improves the quality of rest of life through the relief of pain and other distressing physical and psychological symptoms. Coessential is addressing the spiritual and social needs of patients and their families. Palliative care can be applied while the pacient receives disease-modifying treatment, not only when patient’s disease enters its final stage. Hospice care is a form of palliative care that is appropriate when patient’s life expectancy is 6 months or fewer.