What is palliative care and who provides palliative care in UAE?
Definition
Palliative care is specialized medical care for people living with a serious illness. This type of care aims to relieve the symptoms and distress of the illness. The aim is to improve the quality of life of both the patient and their family.
Palliative care in UAE is provided by a specially trained team of doctors, nurses, and other professionals who work with the patient's other doctors to provide additional support. Palliative care is based on the patient's needs, not their prognosis. It is appropriate at any age and any stage of serious illness and can be given alongside curative treatment.
Improves quality of life
Palliative care teams in UAE focus on the quality of life. They treat people suffering from the symptoms and stress of serious illnesses such as cancer, congestive heart failure (CHF), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), kidney disease, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and many others.
Alleviating symptoms and stress
Palliative care in UAE aims to relieve suffering and achieve the best possible quality of life for patients and their relatives, e.g. pain, depression, shortness of breath, fatigue, constipation, nausea, loss of appetite, sleep disorders, and anxiety. The team will help you find the strength to continue managing your daily life. In short, palliative care helps to improve your quality of life.
Recent studies, including one published in the Journal of Medicine, have shown that patients with a serious illness who received palliative care lived longer than patients who did not.
Helps you tailor treatment options to your goals
The palliative care team also takes the time needed to help you match your treatment options to your goals. They also make sure all your doctors know and understand your wishes. This gives you more control over your treatment and can improve your quality of life.
Work with your other doctors
Palliative care teams are specialists who work with you, your family, and your other doctors. They provide extra support when you need it most. As well as treating your symptoms and distress and supporting you and your family, the palliative care team communicates with all your doctors so everyone is on the same page. They will support you every step of the way.
How you can access palliative care
If you or someone close to you is affected by a serious illness, you can benefit from palliative care in UAE. You can access palliative care at any point in your illness. Search the directory of palliative care providers to find them near you. Take the quiz if you are not sure. Then talk to your doctor and ask them about it. Take the handout with you!
Types of disease and palliative care
Palliative care aims to improve the quality of life. Palliative care doctors treat people living with many different diseases and chronic conditions. These include cancer, heart diseases such as congestive heart failure (CHF), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), kidney failure, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and many others. Palliative care is also important for patients with COVID-19.
Palliative care focuses on the symptoms and burdens of the disease and treatment. It treats a wide range of problems such as pain, depression, anxiety, fatigue, shortness of breath, constipation, nausea, loss of appetite, and sleep problems.
Palliative care teams improve your quality of life. To do this, they help you endure medical treatments, balance your goals with your treatment options, support your family caregivers, and more.
Learn more about how palliative care helps:
1. ALS
2. Alzheimer's disease
3. Breast cancer
4. Bone marrow transplant
5. Cancer
6. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
7. Colon cancer
8. Congestive heart failure
9. COVID-19
10. Dementia
11. Eosinophil-associated disease (EAD)
12. Head and neck cancer
13. HIV/AIDS
14. Huntington's disease
15. Kidney disease
16. Leukemia and lymphoma
17. Liver disease
18. Lung cancer
19. Multiple myeloma
20. Multiple sclerosis
21. Ovarian cancer
22. Pancreatic cancer
23. Parkinson's disease
24. Prostate cancer
25. Pulmonary fibrosis
26. Sickle cell anemia
27. Stroke
How do you get palliative care?
The first step is to talk to your doctor. In most cases, you will need to ask your doctor for a referral to palliative care to receive palliative care services. Whether you are in hospital or at home, a palliative care team can help you. Below are some tips for talking to your doctor:
Tell your doctor that you are thinking about palliative care and ask where it is available in your area.
Ask your doctor to explain your illness and all past, present, and future treatments and procedures.
Explain to your doctor exactly what quality of life means to you. This list may include: Being able to spend time with loved ones; relief from pain and other symptoms; being ability to make your own decisions about care; and where you want to be treated (at home or in hospital).
Make sure your doctor knows any personal, religious, or cultural beliefs, values, or practices that need to be taken into account when making your care and treatment decisions.
Let your doctor know which treatments you want and do not want.
Mention that you would like time to discuss future planning for your treatment. You should do this even if you are well or in the early stages of your illness.
If you have completed a living will or health care proxy, you should inform your doctor of this and provide him or her with a copy.
Finally, at any point in your illness when you are suffering from symptoms and stress, you should ask your doctor for a referral to palliative care!
Eureka’s home health care palliative team helps with both the treatment of the disease and understanding the nature of the disease through open conversations and first-class treatment methods. Our palliative care specialists offer patients relief from psychological distress at every stage of the disease.
Scope of services
We have carefully developed four distinct programs to meet the needs of patients:
1. Dedicated palliative care physicians and nurses.
2. Scheduled visits by nurses and doctors
3. Support from dieticians
4. Support from a psychologist
