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Abstract
For hospitalized patients whose death is imminent, palliative care can alleviate distressing symptoms that are common during the last few days or weeks of life. The essentials of such care that are presented in this review are intended to provide both generalists and specialists in fields other than palliative care with a practical, evidence-based approach to alleviating these symptoms in patients who are dying in a hospital [1]. Communication skills that are essential to personalized care and goal setting are described briefly; the alleviation of the psychosocial and spiritual suffering that is often faced by terminally ill patients and their families is addressed only incidentally. The term “comfort care” is used here to describe a set of the most basic palliative care interventions that provide immediate relief of symptoms in a patient who is very close to death. Typically, these measures are used to achieve comfort for the patient rapidly; diagnostic or therapeutic maneuvers that might be appropriate for palliation in earlier stages of the illness are usually not considered in this context [2]. Many elements of this approach can be used to ease patients’ distress in other phases of a life-threatening illness and in nonhospital settings, and they can also be applied to relieve symptoms in patients with less grave conditions.