Palliative Medicine, A Simple Guide To The Condition, Diagnosis, Treatment And End of Life

by Kenneth Kee

Overview

Palliative means relieving pain or symptoms without dealing with the cause of the disorder.
Palliative medicine is such a large and important treatment that it is impossible to deal with every aspect of it.
This is only a simple guide of what palliative care involves.
Palliative medicine consists of the supportive care of patients with serious illnesses, and the supportive care that is present for family members.
The purpose is to increase the quality of life for the patient.
The aim of palliative medicine is to help people with severe illnesses feel better.
It prevents or treats symptoms and side effects of disease and treatment.
It does not necessarily mean end of life or hospice care, even though palliative medicine may be offered as part of these, too.
It is a comprehensive team method that entails:
1. Pain and symptom treatment,
2. Emotional support and counseling, and
3. Advanced care planning.
A broad team of health caregivers, from doctors and nurses to counselors, chaplains and social workers, provides the support.
Palliative medicine is important for all people who are dealing with serious and life-threatening illnesses.
Much of the center of attention has been on the older population, but palliative medicine is very important for children and their families, too.
A component of the purpose is to increase awareness about that.
The purpose is to spark bigger and continued awareness about the availability of palliative medicine through out the course of serious illness among doctors, pediatric patients, and their families.
Palliative medicine also treats emotional, social, practical, and spiritual disorders that illnesses can bring up.
When the person believes they are better in these areas, they have an increased quality of life
Palliative medicine can be provided at the same time as treatments that are meant to cure or treat the disease.
Palliative medicine may also be provided when the disease is diagnosed, through out treatment, during follow-up, and at the end of life.
Palliative medicine may be provided for people with illnesses, such as:
1. Cancer
2. Heart disease
3. Lung diseases
4. Kidney failure
5. Dementia
6. HIV/AIDS
7. ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis)
The Difference between Palliative Medicine and Hospice:
Both palliative medicine and hospice care offer comfort.
But palliative medicine can start at diagnosis, and at the same instance as treatment.
Hospice care starts after treatment of the disease is terminated and when it is clear that the person is not able to survive the sickness.
Hospice care is normally provided only when the person is anticipated to live 6 months or less.
Palliative medicine can deal with these effects of a person's illness.
Physical problems
1. Pain
2. Trouble sleeping
3. Shortness of breath
4. Constipation
5. Loss of appetite
6. Muscle Wasting

Patients and their families face stress during illness that can result in fear, anxiety, hopelessness, or depression.
Family members may help in care giving, even if they also have work and other duties
Treatments may be:
1. Medicine
2. Nutritional guidance
3. Physical therapy
4. Occupational therapy
5. Integrative therapies
But the patient may obtain palliative medicine at any phase of an illness.
The purpose is:
1. To make the patient comfortable and
2. Increase the quality of life.
Palliative medicine is a method that:
1. Increases the quality of life of patients and their families facing the problem related with life-threatening illness,
2. Through the prevention and relief of suffering by means of early diagnosis and proper assessment and
3. Treatment of pain and other problems, physical, psychosocial and spiritual.

TABLE OF CONTENT
Introduction
Chapter 1 Palliative Medicine
Chapter 2 Cause
Chapter 3 Symptoms
Chapter 4 Diagnosis
Chapter 5 Treatment
Chapter 6 Prognosis: Final Days of Life
Chapter 7 Hospice Care
Chapter 8 The End of Life Care
Epilogue

Product Details

BN ID:	2940154598320
Publisher:	Kenneth Kee
Publication date:	10/24/2017
Sold by:	Smashwords
Format:	eBook
File size:	126 KB

About the Author

Medical doctor since 1972. Started Kee Clinic in 1974 at 15 Holland Dr #03-102, relocated to 36 Holland Dr #01-10 in 2009. Did my M.Sc (Health Management ) in 1991 and Ph.D (Healthcare Administration) in 1993. Dr Kenneth Kee is still working as a family doctor at the age of 65. However he has reduced his consultation hours to 3 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the afternoon. He first started writing free blogs on medical conditions seen in the clinic in 2007 on http://kennethkee.blogspot.com. His purpose in writing these simple guides was for the health education of his patients which is also his dissertation for his Ph.D (Healthcare Administration). He then wrote an autobiolographical account of his journey as a medical student to family doctor on his other blog afamilydoctorstale.blogspot.com. This autobiolographical account “A Family Doctor’s Tale” was combined with his early “A Simple Guide to Medical Conditions” into a new Wordpress Blog “A Family Doctor’s Tale” on http://ken-med.com. From which many free articles from the blog was taken and put together into 550 amazon kindle books and some into Smashwords.com eBooks. He apologized for typos and spelling mistakes in his earlier books. He will endeavor to improve the writing in futures. Some people have complained that the simple guides are too simple. For their information they are made simple in order to educate the patients. The later books go into more details of medical conditions. The first chapter of all my ebooks is always taken from my blog A Simple Guide to Medical Conditions which was started in 2007 as a simple educational help to my patients on my first blog http://kennethkee.blogspot.com. The medical condition was described simply and direct to the point. Because the simple guide as taken from the blog was described as too simple, I have increased the other chapters to include more detailed description of the illness, symptoms, diagnosis and treatment. As a result there are the complaints by some readers of constant repetitions of the same contents but in detail and fairly up to date. He has published 550 eBooks on various subjects on health, 1 autobiography of his medical journey, another on the autobiography of a Cancer survivor, 2 children stories and one how to study for his nephew and grand-daughter. The purpose of these simple guides is to educate patient on health conditions and not meant as textbooks. He does not do any night duty since 2000 ever since Dr Tan had his second stroke. His clinic is now relocated to the Bouna Vista Community Centre. The 2 units of his original clinic are being demolished to make way for a new Shopping Mall. He is now doing some blogging and internet surfing (bulletin boards since the 1980's) starting with the Apple computer and going to PC. All the PC is upgraded by himself from XT to the present Pentium duo core. The present Intel i7 CPU is out of reach at the moment because the CPU is still expensive. He is also into DIY changing his own toilet cistern and other electric appliance. His hunger for knowledge has not abated and he is a lifelong learner. The children have all grown up and there are 2 grandchildren who are even more technically advanced than the grandfather where mobile phones are concerned. This book is taken from some of the many articles in his blog (now with 740 posts) A Family Doctor’s Tale. Dr Kee is the author of: "A Family Doctor's Tale" "Life Lessons Learned From The Study And Practice Of Medicine" "Case Notes From A Family Doctor"