Patient’s perception in front of Palliative Care

Abstract

Introduction: Understanding and perceiving the process of finitude represents an arduous task for human beings, as it is a subject that is not part of people’s daily lives. Thus, palliative care represents an approach that aims to provide support in facing terminality.

Objective: In this sense, palliative care represents an approach that aims to provide support when facing terminality. The aim of this study was to apprehend patients’ perception regarding palliative care.

Material and Methods: It consists of a descriptive and qualitative research, using a semistructured recorded interview, with subsequent transcription for content analysis, using Bardin framework.

Results: The research was carried out in a hospital in the city of Curitiba, Paraná/ Brazil, with nine patients in palliative care. In each category, the singularities exposed by the patients were discussed.

Conclusion: The welcoming of the patient by the team of professionals facilitated coping with the disease through humanization and symptom relief. However, the lack of knowledge about the term “palliative care” and the lack of clarification to the current situation of the patients have been significantly documented.