Subject(s)
Palliative Care , Terminally Ill , Anorexia/therapy , Cachexia/therapy , Constipation/therapy , Cough/therapy , Deglutition Disorders/therapy , Dyspnea/diagnosis , Dyspnea/therapy , Hemoptysis/therapy , Hiccup/therapy , Humans , Intestinal Obstruction/therapy , Lung/metabolism , Nausea/therapy , Prognosis , Syndrome , Vomiting/therapy , Xerostomia/therapySubject(s)
Analgesics, Opioid/therapeutic use , Narcotics/therapeutic use , Neoplasms/physiopathology , Pain/drug therapy , Administration, Cutaneous , Administration, Oral , Age Factors , Aged , Aged, 80 and over , Analgesics, Opioid/adverse effects , Chronic Disease , Codeine/adverse effects , Codeine/analogs & derivatives , Codeine/therapeutic use , Fentanyl/administration & dosage , Fentanyl/adverse effects , Fentanyl/therapeutic use , Humans , Morphine/administration & dosage , Morphine/adverse effects , Morphine/therapeutic use , Narcotics/adverse effects , Palliative Care , Time Factors , Tramadol/adverse effects , Tramadol/therapeutic useABSTRACT
No disponible
Subject(s)
Aged, 80 and over , Aged , Humans , Tramadol , Time Factors , Morphine , Narcotics , Pain , Palliative Care , Codeine , Chronic Disease , Administration, Cutaneous , Administration, Oral , Analgesics, Opioid , Age Factors , Fentanyl , NeoplasmsABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To find the opinions and attitudes of our patients regarding questions of incurable disease and death. DESIGN: A crossover, descriptive study. SETTING: 2 medical clinics and 2 nursing stations at 2 health centres. PATIENTS: 720 patients between 14 and 90 seeking health-care. Sampling of their appropriateness was performed, with systematic daily questionnaires. Known carriers of cancer or AIDS were excluded, as were those with understanding, communication or hearing problems. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS: A survey was carried out after a pilot period, using a specially composed questionnaire with seven closed questions. The study period was three months. 60.8% of those questioned would be willing to tell a close family member if the latter had an incurable illness; 60.9% would allow a doctor to do so. 69% would want to be told the truth if they suffered an incurable illness, with 57.3% opting for a doctor as spokesperson. 58.6% would prefer to die at home and 31.3% in hospital. Preference for hospital was unconnected to age or fear of pain. 44% pointed to pain as their greatest fear in an incurable illness, followed by 25.7% whose greatest fear was disability. CONCLUSIONS: On the whole, our patients seemed favorable to telling the truth about a hypothetical incurable illness, whether their own or a family member's. The majority would prefer to die at home and mainly fear pain.