About pain – otherwise

Overview

We can speak about palliative medicine from different points of view. Twelve years in hospice care and my clinical, health policy and foreign experiences have ensured me that our medical service is one of the best in the world. Unfortunately, it is not completely balanced to acute care and does not have ability to reflect the needs of chronically ill patients. These patients are now the vast majority of aging population and the topics as (not only) geriatric fragility and palliative care will rise interest in daily clinical practice, in decision making process, in health policy and in economy in the coming 20 years. In this environment, we, the doctors, are the key indicators of quality, because our personality and decisions fundamentally affect the plan of care. The question is whether we know the real needs of patients, whether we look not only for medical but also for general human resources to achieve them, and whether the current system and society allow this. This reflection is about these rather philosophical and moral aspects of our work and about role of doctor in “modern times”.

Keywords:
aging population – geriatric fragility syndrome – health policy – palliative care – socio-economic aspects of care