An Overview of the Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on the Provision of Palliative Care.
S GreggE CunninghamM J O'LearyPublished in: Irish medical journal (2023)
The Sars-Cov-2 pandemic had an immeasurable impact on the provision of palliative care in Ireland, and continues to do so. Patients and families were affected by stringent infectious disease measures. Healthcare professionals were also impacted, with recent research demonstrating the psychological impact that the pandemic had on some of those working in palliative care during the pandemic. The services provided by palliative care services also shifted. Many patients opted to stay at home to receive end-of-life care or symptom management from their GP and community palliative homecare teams where possible. Palliative care services in the acute hospital setting were increasingly utilised to support teams to provide end-of-life care in a developing and challenging clinical environment. Communication technology was used to for multidisciplinary team meetings, to communicate with families and by community home care teams for some patient assessments. Our article outlines some of the major ways in which palliative care was impacted by the Sars-Cov-2 pandemic.
Keyphrases
- palliative care
- sars cov
- advanced cancer
- healthcare
- coronavirus disease
- end stage renal disease
- mental health
- primary care
- respiratory syndrome coronavirus
- chronic kidney disease
- ejection fraction
- newly diagnosed
- peritoneal dialysis
- infectious diseases
- prognostic factors
- case report
- liver failure
- intensive care unit
- extracorporeal membrane oxygenation