Evaluating Palliative Care Needs in Middle Eastern Countries

Abstract

The majority of Middle Eastern patients with cancer are treated in outlying regions; the community is pivotal and must be incorporated into future plans for developing palliative care services. Promoting palliative care education and certification for physicians and nurses is crucial; home-based and hospice services must be sustained.

Palliative Care in the Health System of Iran: A Review of the Present Status and the Future Challenges

“…Cleary et al, (2013) have noted that most countries in the Middle East have very restrictive laws on access to opiates. There are some challenges for drug availability including inadequate education and poor training of medical professionals, limited funding, and cultural challenges in many countries (Rassouli and Sajjadi, 2016a, Silbermann, 2014, Silbermann et al, 2015 The study by Rassouli and Sajjadi (2016b) also noted that poor access to opioid drugs as well as the negative attitudes of physicians, patients, and their families to these drugs is a serious challenge. Therefore, like other countries, Iran seems to have the challenge of limited access to narcotic drugs, poor knowledge of service providers as well as the adoption of rules on the use of these drugs.…”

Unmet needs of patients with cancer in their last year of life as described by caregivers in a developing world setting: a qualitative study

“…For patients and families in low resource settings like the Middle East, Africa and India, these can manifest as insufficient services especially for community care, inadequate training of health professionals, inadequate access to opioids and consequently poor symptom control [11,[41][42][43].In many African countries, morphine underutilization due to fears on the part of both lay persons and health professionals, have been highlighted [11].…”

Jinekolojik Onkoloji Palyatif Bakımda Simülasyona Dayalı Mesleklerarası Eğitime Yönelik Öğrencilerin Görüşleri: Nitel Çalışma

“…Bu proje ile birlikte, palyatif bakım hizmetlerinin yürütülmesi için doktor, hemşire, sosyal hizmet ve beslenme ve diyetetik uzmanlarının yer aldığı mesleklerarası palyatif bakım ekipleri oluşturulmuş ve hizmete açılan palyatif bakım ünitelerinde bu ekiplerin istihdam edilmesi sağlanmıştır (6). Ancak Türkiye'de palyatif bakım hizmetlerinin kaliteli bir şekilde sürdürülmesi ve kalitesinin arttırılmasında bazı engeller ile karşılaşılmaktadır (1,3,6,7). Çünkü palyatif bakım ekibi içerisinde yer alan sağlık profesyonelleri lisans eğitimleri süresince birlikte çalışabilen ekip üyeleri olarak yetiştirilmemekte ve mesleklerarası öğrenim deneyimi sağlayan bir palyatif bakım eğitimi almamaktadır.…”