Membership
The "Tellicherry IMA Pain and Palliative Care Society' have 164 members for the mission of the association is to ensure the prefect health to all and also to enhance the medical services in tune with the needs & aspirations of society.
Pain and palliative care
Palliative care improves the quality of life of patients and families who face life-threatening illness, by providing pain and symptom relief, spiritual and psychosocial support to from diagnosis to the end of life and bereavement.
Palliative care
- provides relief from pain and other distressing symptoms;
- affirms life and regards dying as a normal process;
- intends neither to hasten or postpone death;
- integrates the psychological and spiritual aspects of patient care;
- offers a support system to help patients live as actively as possible until death;
- offers a support system to help the family cope during the patients illness and in their own bereavement;
- uses a team approach to address the needs of patients and their families, including bereavement counselling, if indicated;
- will enhance quality of life, and may also positively influence the course of illness;
- is applicable early in the course of illness, in conjunction with other therapies that are intended to prolong life, such as chemotherapy or radiation therapy, and includes those investigations needed to better understand and manage distressing clinical complications.
In most of the world, the majority of cancer patients are in advances stages of cancer when first seen by a medical professional. For them, the only realistic treatment option is pain relief and palliative care. Effective approaches to palliative care are available to improve the quality of life for cancer patients.
Palliative care, also called comfort care, is primarily directed at providing relief to a terminally-ill person through symptom management and pain management. The goal is not to cure, but to provide comfort and maintain the highest possible quality of life for as long as life remains. Well-rounded palliative care programs also address mental health and spiritual needs. The focus is not on death, but on compassionate specialized care for the living. Palliative care is well-suited to an interdisciplinary team model that provides support for the whole person and those who are sharing the person's journey in love.
Palliative care may be delivered in hospice and home care settings or in hospitals. Because medical needs vary depending on the disease that is leading toward death, specialized palliative care programs exist for common conditions such as cancer and AIDS. Specialized care giving is also needed if organic changes in the brain lead to coma or dementia.
Our related page on death with dignity discusses the use of advance medical directives, power of attorney arrangements, and the right to die, including the controversial topic of voluntary euthanasia. It cannot be stressed enough that top-quality palliative care can make the difference between a gentle death and one in which suffering is so terrible and prolonged that assisted suicide becomes an attractive alternative.
When people enter a hospice or begin palliative care, their loved ones may begin to experience increased feelings of grief and bereavement. These feelings may intensify as people put final affairs in order, which may include funeral and memorial planning.
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