Relatório de estágio de cuidados paliativos no South Adelaide Palliative Services : Austrália Meridional : 2014

• Autor(a) principal: Silva, José António Pais
• Data de Publicação: 2015
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.14/19692
• topic: Palliative care internship; Symptom control; Psychosocial issue management; Dyspnoea; Estágio em cuidados paliativos; Controlo de sintomas; Gestão de problemas psicossociais; Dispneia

A practical component was felt to be essential to make theory and practice meet in Palliative Care, at all levels, even after directed postgraduate studies. As such, I opted to undergo a 9 week Palliative Care internship in a reference institution – South Adelaide Palliative Services (SAPS), from July to September 2014 in Adelaide, South Australia. This institution offers hospice, outpatient, hospital consultancy and home care services. Additionally, it is famous for conducting good quality research in Palliative Care. An internship was thus carried out with the aim of improving symptom control options, psychosocial understanding and management principles, namely communication of bad news and service structure observation. Furthermore, a research project concerning the symptomatic control of dyspnoea was also carried out. All components of care were visited and in all of them fruitful discussions with in-matter specialists were held. Schedule flexibility was possible to allow for objective completion and, at a certain point, to satisfy a personal inclination for a certain area. This practice had multiple implications in my professional life as a medical Oncology registrar: It allowed me to feel much more comfortable in dealing with partially refractory symptoms and to gain perspective on the typical course of disease in some pathologies. Additionally, communication skills were greatly improved by being able to see some conversations that would challenge the status quo of practicing medicine in Portugal and adapting them to our culture. The research project resulted in a paper being submitted, and is now awaiting reviewer’s comments. All in all, the proposed objectives were met and fulfilled, with the necessary limitations, and the experience was considered very fruitful on all levels.