The value of alleviating suffering and dignifying death in war and humanitarian crises

The 2023-2026 Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association Research Agenda

“…Palliative nurses must work with disaster management agencies during times of crisis to streamline public health messaging, strategize care delivery, and readily identify persons in need 36 . However, there are a number of barriers to integrating palliative care into disaster response initiatives, including utilitarian, lifesaving priorities of humanitarian organizations; resource allocation amid scarcity; insufficient palliative care program funding; lack of palliative specialist preparation; poor access to controlled essential medicines, including opioids for injuries, surgeries, and moderate to severe symptoms at end of life; deficient mechanisms to address mass bereavement; ethical dilemmas to support care of the dying; and cultural variation related to dying and death 36-40 . The pandemic has demonstrated the need for generalists to be trained in principles of palliative care, including symptom management and communication 24 .…”

“…36 However, there are a number of barriers to integrating palliative care into disaster response initiatives, including utilitarian, lifesaving priorities of humanitarian organizations; resource allocation amid scarcity; insufficient palliative care program funding; lack of palliative specialist preparation; poor access to controlled essential medicines, including opioids for injuries, surgeries, and moderate to severe symptoms at end of life; deficient mechanisms to address mass bereavement; ethical dilemmas to support care of the dying; and cultural variation related to dying and death. [36][37][38][39][40] The pandemic has demonstrated the need for generalists to be trained in principles of palliative care, including symptom management and communication. 24 However, a lack of symptom assessment tools and of training and mentorship in palliative care exacerbates the ability of healthcare providers to provide palliative care without prior training.…”

Neuropalliative care in times of war

“…In the event of a humanitarian crisis, it is our ethical obligation not to abandon the seriously ill [1]. As the COVID-19 pandemic laid bare the limits of health systems and propelled triage protocols to allocate scarce resources, patients with pre-existing neurological illnesses were disproportionately affected [2].…”

The coordination of collective and individual solutions in risk-resistant scenarios

“…Humanity, as a community of destiny, is exposed to various daily risks, such as disease, environmental damage, and war [ 1 – 6 ]. A wide variety of risks affect people’s lives, and people are constantly making efforts to cope with them.…”