Brit J Hosp Med
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Comparative Study
Paediatric palliative care: not so different from adult palliative care?
This article compares and contrasts paediatric and adult palliative care, two specialties which are commonly rooted in the need to provide high-quality holistic care for life-limited patients. It explores how professionals can work together to meet the needs of young people transitioning from paediatric to adult health-care systems.
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This article describes the importance of improving access to palliative care services of patients with advanced chronic respiratory disease. It outlines their needs, the challenges involved in meeting them and ways in which current models of care may need to be modified to increase access.
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Patients with Parkinson's disease have an illness which shortens their life and involves a heavy symptom burden for patient and carer. This article discusses some common palliative care issues pertinent to patients with Parkinson's disease.
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The pathophysiology and targeted management of heart failure is now well understood. However, patients may live for some years with significant symptoms and resultant reduced quality of life. Good supportive care and access to specialist palliative care is important for optimum care for patients living and dying from heart failure.
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This month's journal contains a symposium on palliative medicine without any sections relating directly to cancer. This may be surprising for those who still understand palliative medicine as an oncological offshoot. The need for the adoption of the palliative care approach beyond the confines of oncology has long been recognized. Four years before the opening of the first modern hospice at St Christopher's in Sydenham, John Hinton (1963) demonstrated that the morbidity of patients with non-malignant conditions was as great or greater than those with cancer (National Council for Palliative Care, 2007).