Authors : A Balasubramanian
DOI : 10.18231/j.ijpo.2019.118
Volume : 6
Issue : 4
Year : 2019
Page No : 610-614
Introduction: Palliative care is an approach that improves the quality of life of patients and their families
facing the problems associated with life-threatening illness by means of early identification and impeccable
assessment and treatment of pain and other problems, physical, psychosocial and spiritual. The aim of this
study is to assess the efficacy of Hospital Palliative Care Team (HPCT) in improvement of delivery of
palliative care in terminally ill cancer patients who had consultations and care delivered and guided by the
HPCT.
Materials and Methods: A retrospective analytical study was done on all advanced incurable cancer
patients who attended Oncology department in a tertiary care hospital, Pondicherry for a period of one year,
where the HPCT was formed for enhancing palliative care. The study parameters included site distribution
of advanced cancers, common symptoms in cancer patients which required addressal by HPCT, numerical
pain score and surgical and non-surgical interventions done.
Results: A total of consecutive 70 incurable advanced cancer patients were included. Among the group,
Breast cancer was the most common by site and Bone cancer was the least. The numerical pain score
were recorded on day 0, 3 and 30 which showed mean score of 6.3, 1.6 and 0.9 respectively. Palliative
radiotherapy, chemotherapy and surgical procedures were offered in 4, 9 and 8 patients respectively and a
few were offered minor interventional procedures.
Conclusion: Implementing HPCT model of palliative care could deliver effective symptom control with
the advantage of better integration of multidisciplinary palliative care. A team of consultants management
could enhance quality of palliative care services as compared to single palliative care specialist whose main
focus of care may be pain management as compared to HPCT with a multidisciplinary team with expertise
in various aspects of cancer patient management.
Keywords: Cancers, Hospice, Incurable, Terminally ill.