The key role of palliative care in response to the COVID-19 tsunami of suffering
The Lancet has published an excellent comment by Lukas Radbruch, Felicia Knaul, Liliana de Lima, Cornelis de Joncheere and Afsan Bhadelia on the global need for palliative care in the Covid-19 pandemic.
Read: The key role of palliative care in response to the COVID-19 tsunami of suffering
“Patients, caregivers, health-care providers, and health systems can benefit from the extensive knowledge of the palliative care community and by taking heed of long-standing admonitions to improve access to essential medicines, particularly opioids for the relief of breathlessness and pain.”
“During the COVID-19 pandemic, access to essential palliative care at end-of-life, including bereavement support, will be limited in the face of high demands in all countries. There will be increased isolation and suffering for palliative care patients and those who are bereaved. Strict physical distancing regulations to slow disease transmission mean that patients who die from COVID-19 will usually be without loved ones by their side, who in turn will be unable to say goodbye or undertake traditional grieving rituals.”
“Now is the time to insist on rapid capacity-building for clinicians in symptom control and management of end-of-life conversations.”
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