JAMA Surgery Viewpoint: To Face Coronavirus Disease 2019, Surgeons Must Embrace Palliative Care
JAMA Surgery has published a Viewpoint, "To Face Coronavirus Disease 2019, Surgeons Must Embrace Palliative Care."
"COVID-19 presents structural, ethical, and clinical challenges forcing a fundamental reevaluation of how we care for patients." The authors detail what palliative care is, and explain that the current "crisis presents surgeons with an unprecedented opportunity to embrace palliative care to face this pandemic."
The paper focuses on four key aspects of palliative care that are instructive to surgeons during this crisis, and explains each of these in detail and points to helpful tools and resources. The key aspects are:
- using serious-illness communication strategies to disclose prognosis and establish goals of care
- treating total pain,
- caring for the family unit,
- supporting clinicians.
To go to the Viewpoint, click here.
