Palliative Care Services from Past to Present

Abstract

Palliative care (PC) refers to all services provided to make the remaining life of a patient meaningful and valuable. It is recommended that palliative care that is applied to improve the life quality of the patients should not be based only on the diagnosis and prognosis of the disease but also on the need of the patients. Even, palliative care was administered only in the late stages of diseases in the past, but these days it is recommended to be administered in addition to therapies starting from the diagnosis of life-threatening diseases. Palliative care requires a multidisci- plinary team approach consisting of professionals who serve for a common purpose. No single palliative care model can be fit for all conditions. However, there is a universal fundamental principle of palliative care: it should address the individual wishes and needs of each patient and the relatives of patients. The development and training of palliative care services vary from country to country: palliative care services are in the development stage in developing countries, compared to devel- oped countries. This chapter provides necessary information about palliative care services, a multidisciplinary health service.