Relatório de estágio em cuidados paliativos

Abstract

To think and to speak of palliative care is a personal, professional and social challenge. As a professional, the need to have an active attitude established on scientific presumptions regarding situations so devoid of care and often tagged as “a professional failure” like the end-of-life, encouraged the search for answers. On social level, the lack of information endorsing the prejudice attached to palliative care rouse a spur to spread out and to clarify its concept and areas of practice. In this light my sustained need to do an internship sprang as a mean to reify the MSc in Palliative Care. The path described in this internship report alongside the various institutions tries to explain in a synthesized way the developed activities, acquired skills, and consequent critical reflections. I have done a broader and deeper clinical internship in the Local Health Unit of Matosinhos Team of Support in Palliative Care, articulating hospital and home care, as well as a small study on the main reasons for incoming phone calls of this team. I have taken an observation/participation internship at Hospital Residencial do Mar and an observation internship enhanced with training at Centro Assistencial de San Camilo, which provide me the opportunity of reflecting on its suitability to the Portuguese health context. In addition, I have developed other activities such as training for young people spreading Palliative Care and updating knowledge participating in conferences and nursing meetings. I have noticed and incorporated along this course that the research, philosophy, and core areas of activity defined in Palliative Care extrapolated to practice are the fulcrum of health professionals’ teams that despite hard and constant work make the difference on the care of the human being. The human being is afraid of death, an awkward issue, especially for young people and children, but particularly, afraid of suffering, loss of autonomy and respect for their human dignity. Palliative Care is definitely the specialized area of action that as a professional of nursing opened me prospects for an active, personalized, humanized, complete and realistic caring.

Date of Award	2012
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Alzira Teresa Vieira Martins Ferreira dos Santos (Supervisor)