Article Commentary: Pediatric Palliative Care: A Reflection on Terminology

The definition of palliative care is the cornerstone of a medical subspecialty that plays a particular role for all who need it, for all who practice it, and increasingly for those who try to understand it. The difficulties around the definition and terminology arise from problems in separating it f...

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Main Author: Eva Bergstraesser
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SAGE Publishing 2013-01-01
Series:Palliative Care
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.4137/PCRT.S12800
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spelling doaj-4987ea3170e348ccaa034edb86018b602020-11-25T03:39:17ZengSAGE PublishingPalliative Care1178-22422013-01-01710.4137/PCRT.S12800Article Commentary: Pediatric Palliative Care: A Reflection on TerminologyEva Bergstraesser0University Children's Hospital, Department of Pediatric Palliative Care and Oncology, Zurich, Switzerland.The definition of palliative care is the cornerstone of a medical subspecialty that plays a particular role for all who need it, for all who practice it, and increasingly for those who try to understand it. The difficulties around the definition and terminology arise from problems in separating it from other concepts such as supportive care, constructs such as “palliative care is only about dying”, or, in children, the rather vague use of terms like life-threatening and life-limiting diseases. These weaknesses have been recognized and important steps have been taken. This review discusses current definitions as well as efforts to overcome their weaknesses and make the term palliative care—for both children and adults—more intelligible.https://doi.org/10.4137/PCRT.S12800
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Eva Bergstraesser
spellingShingle Eva Bergstraesser
Article Commentary: Pediatric Palliative Care: A Reflection on Terminology
Palliative Care
author_facet Eva Bergstraesser
author_sort Eva Bergstraesser
title Article Commentary: Pediatric Palliative Care: A Reflection on Terminology
title_short Article Commentary: Pediatric Palliative Care: A Reflection on Terminology
title_full Article Commentary: Pediatric Palliative Care: A Reflection on Terminology
title_fullStr Article Commentary: Pediatric Palliative Care: A Reflection on Terminology
title_full_unstemmed Article Commentary: Pediatric Palliative Care: A Reflection on Terminology
title_sort article commentary: pediatric palliative care: a reflection on terminology
publisher SAGE Publishing
series Palliative Care
issn 1178-2242
publishDate 2013-01-01
description The definition of palliative care is the cornerstone of a medical subspecialty that plays a particular role for all who need it, for all who practice it, and increasingly for those who try to understand it. The difficulties around the definition and terminology arise from problems in separating it from other concepts such as supportive care, constructs such as “palliative care is only about dying”, or, in children, the rather vague use of terms like life-threatening and life-limiting diseases. These weaknesses have been recognized and important steps have been taken. This review discusses current definitions as well as efforts to overcome their weaknesses and make the term palliative care—for both children and adults—more intelligible.
url https://doi.org/10.4137/PCRT.S12800
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