Document Detail


Palliative medicine in Britain.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  18051021     Owner:  NLM     Status:  MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
In Britain, Palliative Medicine was recognized as a subspecialty of Internal Medicine exactly 20 years after Cicely Saunders founded St Christopher's, at exactly the same time that government was at last recognizing the worth and the needs of general practice. Both had far-reaching effects and implications for patients, doctors, and the future of medicine. For Palliative Medicine it meant units wishing to train specialists going through a rigorous selection process; the development of an equally rigorous training program for the doctors who had already gained a higher qualification before starting Palliative Medicine, demonstrating the need for and benefits of palliative medicine to the sceptics in the profession and, now, continuing to recruit the staff for the steadily increasing number of new services. Today there are more Palliative Medicine consultants/specialists than there are oncologists and neurologists combined, with Hospital Palliative Care Teams in every major hospital and cancer center. With nine Chairs in Palliative Medicine, there is now a drive for research and professional education. The specialty faces major challenges, however, ranging from training to care for patients with non-malignant disease to enabling patients to die in the place of their choice-something that rarely happens today; from defining what is distinctive or unique about palliative medicine to clarifying the respective place of general practice and the specialty. Most would agree that the biggest challenge for the young, thriving specialty is how to share its principles with other doctors wherever they work.
Authors:
Derek Doyle
Publication Detail:
Type:  Historical Article; Journal Article    
Journal Detail:
Title:  Omega     Volume:  56     ISSN:  0030-2228     ISO Abbreviation:  Omega (Westport)     Publication Date:    2007-2008
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2007-12-04     Completed Date:  2008-01-11     Revised Date:  -    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  1272106     Medline TA:  Omega (Westport)     Country:  United States    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  77-88     Citation Subset:  IM    
Affiliation:
National Council for Palliative Care, London. debedoyle@surefish.co.uk
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MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
Great Britain
History, 20th Century
History, 21st Century
Hospice Care / history*
Humans
Palliative Care / history*

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