Um percurso de aprendizagem em cuidados paliativos

Abstract

As part of my master's degree in palliative care, I decided to undertake an internship to improve the skills needed to provide specialized palliative care. The internship took place in two contexts, a Portuguese institution, that facilitated the knowledge of the national palliative care network and an Irish hospice, which allowed me to access the reality of this type of care abroad. The first context offers inpatient services and the second provides inpatient services, day hospital, home and community support and a research center.Both were selected considering the previously defined objectives: to know the organization and culture of a Portuguese palliative care unit; to develop teamwork skills;to meet the physical needs of people with chronic, life-limiting or terminal illnesses; to integrate the psychological, spiritual and social dimensions of people into care; to improve family support skills; to understand the influence of structural organization and organizational culture on the quality of care. Given the importance of training and research in professional practice, I also proposed to conduct training in palliative care and investigate an issue using the scientific method.Among the implications of the internship in the professional practice, this enabled me to contribute to the improvement of teamwork in my work context, to include the evaluation of symptoms in the routine of care with the support of appropriate instruments and to address the spiritual and psycho social dimensions, for example, it awakened me to the anguish or suffering of people and families.The internship also allowed me to know the concept of hope, especially in the lives of people with ALS, by conducting a scoping review. I was also able to deepen knowledge about palliative sedation, having dynamized training in this area. Thus, in general, it was possible to achieve the proposed objectives, so this experience was in my opinion very positive.

Date of Award	2 Jul 2020
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Leonor Teixeira Gil (Supervisor)