Cuidados de saúde ao doente e família nos últimos dias e horas de vida

Abstract

In Palliative Care, the last days and hours of life also called as the phase of agony, are nowadays a focus of attention for health and academic professionals. During this phase of life very close to death it is necessary to redefine the goals with the patient and family in order to adequate the care to the patient condition. In this report we presented the description and the reflection made regarding the integrated traineeships at Masters in Palliative Care of the Health Sciences Institute, in the Portuguese Catholic University – Oporto, focused in Healthcare for the Patient and Family during the last Days and Hours of Life. The option for this formation area has arisen due to the need to overcome the difficulties experienced and lived in care of the patients during this phase of life as a professional integrated in a unity of Palliative Care. This issue was chosen due to our interest to go further when studying this subject as we know that most of the identified patients presented a short period of hospital stay with high levels of death. This report shows the pursued path used in traineeships, identifying the main activities and competences developed as well as thoughts, reflections and studies. In a first phase, it took place in a specialized service of Palliative Care in the Oporto region and allowed mainly the acquisition and development of empirical, ethical and aesthetic knowledge or nursing art in practical environment. In a second phase, it was developed the control of scientific knowledge through activities which allowed to adequate the healthcare to the needs of the patient and his family in his last days and hours of life. The methodology adopted was descriptive and reflexive, sustained by bibliographical research which provided the help to state reasons for the decisions and actions undertaken. We do a retrospective study of the clinical records of healthcare in the last days and hours of life; and a exploratory study about the perceptions of the health professionals about the last days and hours of life which led to the drafting of a Manual of Procedures. The report reflects the contributions, the apprenticeships, works done and developing the competences in the four key areas of Palliative Care: the communication; the symptom control; care of the family and work team. It reflects also the need for a correct diagnosis of healthcare in order to implement strategies and training actions to improve the quality of the provided healthcare.

Date of Award	2015
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Luís Sá (Supervisor) & Patrícia Coelho (Supervisor)