Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Barriers to Access to Palliative Care

2017; SAGE Publishing; Volume: 10; Linguagem: Inglês

10.1177/1178224216688887

1178-2242

Pippa Hawley,

Patient Dignity and Privacy

Despite significant advances in understanding the benefits of early integration of palliative care with disease management, many people living with a chronic life-threatening illness either do not receive any palliative care service or receive services only in the last phase of their illness. In this article, I explore some of the reasons for failure to provide palliative care services and recommend some strategies to overcome these barriers, emphasizing the importance of describing palliative care accurately. I provide language which I hope will help health care professionals of all disciplines explain what palliative care has to offer and ensure wider access to palliative care, early in the course of their illness.