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Palliative Care in the Acute Care Surgery Setting

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Common Problems in Acute Care Surgery

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Abstract

Palliative care is medical care focused on symptom reduction and improvement of quality of life for patients with serious, life-threatening, or debilitating illness. Acute care surgical patients who will benefit from palliative care include those common surgical problems in the setting of advanced underlying disease such as cancer or end stage organ dysfunction or advanced surgical disease in an otherwise healthy patient. Two core competencies in surgical palliative care have been identified for all surgeons: acute pain and symptom management and communication skills. Inherent in the communication skills needed when caring for acute care surgical patients are an appreciation of the role of shared decision-making, prognostication, and vital role of family meetings throughout the course of surgical care. Palliative surgical procedures are only one aspect of surgical palliative care. Palliative procedures include any procedure intended to relieve symptoms, reduce debility, or improve quality of life. The morbidity and mortality of palliative surgical procedures is significantly higher than that associated with curative-intent procedures. Utilizing thorough preoperative discussions about goals of the procedure, expected outcomes, an understanding of patient/family goals and careful patient selection, acceptable palliative and procedure-related outcomes can be achieved. Education in surgical palliative care is sorely lacking in most surgical training programs. Abundant opportunities exist for research to improve the application of palliative care to acute care surgical patients.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Surgical Oncology, Department of Surgery, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA

    Bridget N. Fahy

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  1. Bridget N. Fahy
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Correspondence to Bridget N. Fahy .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Surgery, The University of Texas McGovern Medical School - Houston, Houston, Texas, USA

    Laura J. Moore

  2. General Surgery and Trauma Ben Taub Hospital, Houston, Texas, USA

    S. Rob Todd

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Fahy, B.N. (2017). Palliative Care in the Acute Care Surgery Setting. In: Moore, L., Todd, S. (eds) Common Problems in Acute Care Surgery. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-42792-8_42

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-42792-8_42

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-42790-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-42792-8

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