Soins palliatifs et médecine

Abstrait

Structuring of Palliative Care in Ankara Ulus State Hospital, Turkey;2012-2013

Afife Ayla Kabalak, Kadriye Kahveci, Derya Gokcinar, Necdet Özdogan and Hasan Cagil

Purpose: We aimed to report the first structuring “Comprehensive Palliative Care Center” in the Turkish Ministry of Health, Ankara Ulus State Hospital.

Methods: We built up paliative care center in Ankara Ulus State Hospital. Ensuring a peaceful, quiet home environmentin general, an ergonomic one for patients and a comfortable one for patients and relatives was created. Doctors, nurses and allied health staff were given both theorically and pratically training course for palliative care. In addition, for informational purposes, symposiums are held for other health care institutions and health care workers.

Results: With the passage of the normal course of the disease after treatment, patients are re-taken for follow-up under palliative care and symptom care is continued accompanied by relatives or nurses. These processes increase the confidence towards health professionals and caregivers provide reduction in patients’ expectations and accelerate embracing the end of life.

Conclusion: In our hospital, we shared our experiences and logic model with colleagues and identified which joint steps to take in the future by organizing a symposium on the subject. We hope that increasing the number of trained personnel and resolution of legal and financial aspects are the key issues in spreading palliative care throughout the country. In this regard, our hospital sets a good example for many State and University hospitals, an awareness of palliative care started to increase, and many centers were opened or started preparations to build new palliative centers.