The Communication of Palliative Care for the Elderly Cancer Patient

Abstract

Palliative care (PC) is often recommended by physicians for their elderly patients who are terminally ill. In contrast to hospice care, which precludes the use of any curative treatment at life's end stages, PC seeks primarily to comfort patients and to keep them pain free, yet it does not necessarily preclude medical treatment. It does seek to attend to patients' physical as well as psychological, emotional, spiritual, and existential needs in an attempt to enhance overall quality of life. A review of current literature in PC for oncology patients, elderly and otherwise, reveals a curious irony: Although PC plausibly entails a holistic, patient-centered approach to health care, much of the research on PC and, apparently, many of the practices in PC focus almost exclusively on the biomedical approach to patient care, particularly in regard to pain and symptom management. Furthermore, few methods in PC research incorporate patients' narratives and lived experiences in the final stages of their lives. We argue that a holistic, patient-centered approach must guide research in PC, including the treatment of elderly patients as "active interpreters, managers, and creators of the meaning of their health and illness" (Vanderford, Jenks, & Sharf, 1997, p.14) and of the meaning of their lives.