Facts and fallacies in palliative care

Abstract

The concept of palliative care is still quite new in Malaysia. Through the experience of delivering palliative care in both the hospital and community settings, the author has realized that there are many false beliefs among the medical and nursing professionals, as well as patients and their caregivers. By exploring and providing factual explanations to these beliefs, the present article highlights the differences in approach between acute and palliative management and the importance of good communication skills, as well as correcting the myths of patients and their caregivers, with the aim of improving the understanding of palliative care.

Knowledge and Myths about Palliative Care among the General Public and Health Care Professionals in Portugal

“…One-third of nonhealthcare participants indicated “nothing else can be done” as one of the misconceptions about palliative care, congruent with myths previously identified in the literature [ 14 , 18 ]. This was also one of the terms associated with palliative care by NHCPs.…”

“…This was also one of the terms associated with palliative care by NHCPs. In addition to this nothing-can-be-done aspect, almost half of the participants considered that palliative care is for patients with a life expectancy of less than 6 months, as reported by some authors when mentioning that these patients will die soon [ 14 , 17 , 19 ] or are waiting to die [ 14 , 17 , 19 , 20 ]; the latter was indicated by the majority of the general population surveyed. Another misconception was that palliative care is only for people with cancer [ 15 , 16 ], an idea reiterated by a minority of HCPs and almost half of the study’s total sample.…”

“…Several authors have highlighted the common myths, misconceptions, and superstitions attached to palliative care in several countries, which are linked to poor knowledge by patients, families, and HCPs (especially nurses and doctors) [ 5 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 ]. Common myths frequently associate palliative care with a loss of hope for patients, who are merely waiting to die, when nothing more can be done.…”

“…Other misconceptions are related to symptom control, such as the use of oxygen to relieve dyspnea and prolong a patient’s life. There are also misconceptions regarding the management of pain and other symptoms, particularly those related to morphine, the inevitability and normality of pain, as well as nutrition and hydration in palliative care [ 14 , 16 , 17 ]. Other myths refer to communication, such as the conspiracy of silence or talking about the prognosis and discussing the place of death [ 5 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 ].…”

Family physicians in the health care system: The challenge of health promotion and advocacy for wellness

“…Palliative care is at the last stage of level of prevention. The paper by Khoo on palliative care and the perception of some patients and health providers as well is an indication that there are unmet needs of patients and educational needs of physicians regarding palliative care 8 …”