Referenciação para unidades de internamento de cuidados paliativos portuguesas

: Quando? Quem? E porquê?

Abstract

Palliative care is under development in our country and the world, providing a humane and interdisciplinary response to patients/families, in inpatient units or by the action of intra-hospital teams and home care support. The referral for this care should occur preferentially at the time of diagnosis of a prolonged, incurable and progressive illness, so that we can detect early and systematically the unmet needs, improving symptoms prevention and strengthen emotional relationships between the patient and family, promoting the dignity and quality of life for them. With the objective of characterize the referral of patients admitted to portuguese palliative care units, an observational, longitudinal, descriptive study was developed, being applied by the investigator a registry form in six portuguese palliative care units and collecting data by consulting random clinical records of patients admitted in 2010. The data were processed with the statistical analysis program SPSS 19. Patients admitted to the units in study were mainly cancer patients, male gender, with a mean age of 72,55 years, living alone or with another element, and the caregiver being mostly female and family. These patients were predominantly referred for symptomatic control and management of therapeutic regimen, and the emotional and psychological support, palliative/supportive care and the caregiver's exhaustion, had moderate percentages, regarding the motives for referral. There were referenced patients in the final stage of the disease, although the median survival time of reference was 36,50 days, verifying that in some units the patient waited 430 days to be admitted, a situation which contributes to reducing median survival on admission, which was 11,00 days. Given these results it is essential to continue promoting training in palliative care.

Date of Award	2012
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Alexandre Castro Caldas (Supervisor) & Manuel Luís Capelas (Co-Supervisor)