Open AccessCompleting the continuum of cancer care: Integrating life‐prolongation and palliation
Author(s) -
Byock Ira
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
ca: a cancer journal for clinicians
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 62.937
H-Index - 168
eISSN - 1542-4863
pISSN - 0007-9235
DOI - 10.3322/canjclin.50.2.123
Subject(s) - palliative care , scope (computer science) , grief , medicine , nursing , hospice care , quality of life (healthcare) , disease , payment , closure (psychology) , end of life care , intensive care medicine , psychology , business , psychiatry , political science , finance , pathology , computer science , law , programming language
Cancer care extends from diagnosis through the late stages of advanced illness as patients confront dying and their families cope with caregiving and grief. Palliative care is a rapidly developing area of clinical focus that offers valuable services to patients in terms of symptom management and adjustment to illness, including issues of life completion and life closure. It is often appropriate to offer certain elements of palliative care early in the course of illness. As disease progresses, physical comfort and enhancing quality of life increasingly become primary goals of cancer care. Specialized palliative care programs, epitomized by hospice, are invaluable resources for patients with far‐advanced illness and their families. Current regulations and prevailing payment structures limit access to and the scope of hospice services and highlight the need for innovative models of delivering and financing palliative care.