This module will provide a broad overview
of death and dying in United States, the growing need for quality palliative
care, current gaps in care, present definitions to introduce palliative
care, and also discuss the scope of palliative care.
One of the ideas
we would like to get across is that palliative care is quickly
becoming a standard in American health care.
Dr. Charles von Gunten, a national leader in palliative care and the
editor of Journal
of Palliative Medicine. He is also director of the San Diego
Hospice. He has this to say about palliative medicine:
After completing this module you will be able to:
Define hospice and palliative care.
Describe current demographic trends in death and dying in the US.
Describe compression of morbidity theory.
Describe trajectories of common terminal illnesses.
Describe the sources of suffering in terminally ill patients.
Describe clinical care settings in which palliative care occurs.
Describe the evidence base for the efficacy of palliative care for
patient outcomes and cost control.
