To improve the quality of assistance to patients in the final stage of life, providing palliative healthcare professionals with a basic and practical tool guiding their day-to-day activity, is the goal of the guidelines now launched by the National Association of Doctors , elaborated by Mariana Barosa (Internal Medicine internist at Hospital Doutor Fernando Fonseca), Tiago Neto Gonçalves (Internal Medicine internist at Hospital da Luz Lisboa) and Isabel Galriça Neto (diretora do Departamento de Cuidados Continuados e Paliativos do Hospital da Luz Lisboa e presidente da competência de cuidados paliativos da Ordem dos Médicos). (director of the Department of Palliative and Continuing Care from Hospital da Luz Lisboa and president of the palliative care area in the National Association of Doctors). “These are essentially practical guidelines crossing across the different areas of Medicine, around a theme lacking information and requiring standardization of practices. The project was embraced by the National Association of Doctors and its chairman, in line with the concern of quality assistance to patients, namely in a period of great fragility and vulnerability such as the last days of life”, explains Isabel Galriça Neto. During the launching, last June 29, the chairman of the doctors’ association, Miguel Guimarães, complimented the work of the authors , highlighting in particular the work of the two young doctors who strived to make this project a reality. “We wish to give our contribution so that the thousands of patients lacking of healthcare in agony (the last days of life) may increasingly receive high quality assistance”, emphasized on their turn Mariana Barosa and Tiago Neto Gonçalves, in the introduction of the guidelines. “The period of last days or hours is marked by high symptomatic complexity and associated emotional intensity, with imperative adjustment to the goal of comfort promotion. The meticulous clinical interventions must be guided by technical-scientific rigour and a consistent ethical framework”, highlighted on her turn Isabel Neto. “These guidelines aim to improve clinical care provided to the thousands of Portuguese that die every year of chronic, advanced and irreversible disease . The evidence of research undertaken in the different health services shows that we can clearly enhance what we offer our patients in this stage – not only to those treated by teams specialized in palliative care, but to all those who should receive basic palliative intervention”, added the director of the Department of Palliative and Continuing Care from Hospital da Luz Lisboa. The concise guidelines “ Approach to Agony – Last days and hours of life” (Abordagem da Agonia – Últimos dias e horas de vida) , are freely accessible and can be downloaded in the site of the National Association of Doctors.
