Revista de prevención y atención de la salud

Abstracto

Palliative care: patient advocacy: barriers to symptom management through restrictions on telephone prescribing

Naomie Trofort

People with serious illnesses have significant health problems. Therefore, palliative care becomes important to help patients overcome the challenge with limited suffering. From the moment a person is diagnosed with a serious illness, patient advocates become an important part of their life. In addition to helping patients, the patient advocate is responsible for making the patient's family live a high-quality life (Barner & Hromadik, 2020). Stress and symptoms are relieved from the patient during palliative care by the help of the patient advocate. Through palliative care, a patient can tailor their treatment options to their goals. This helps doctors understand what the patient wants. Anyone facing a serious illness can benefit from palliative care. The global Covid-19 pandemic has led to many deaths due to the isolation of many people with serious illnesses. Palliative care has become very important, especially in the era of the pandemic. Palliative medicine is a specialty for the treatment of pain, shortness of breath, and other distressing physical symptoms caused by chronic and life-limiting illnesses. As in any humanitarian context, patient advocates are an integral part of public health. The overall situation has led to many healthcare institutions prioritizing patients based on the severity of their illness or the symptoms they are presenting with. For example, cancer patients are prioritized to help them relieve stress and manage acute complications of cancer (Oliver, 2019). Home care is encouraged for patients, especially for those who have high palliative care needs. Some healthcare institutions have also encouraged patient advocates to take over and have more patients under their care.