The origin of the term palliative is traced back to the Latin words pallium, Greek cloak also worn in Rome, e Palliare, which means covering with the pallium. The roots of this word make it easier to understand its current meaning; a palliative is in fact a remedy that reduces the symptoms of the disease, without directly intervening on the cause.
Palliative care
If the term palliative identifies a drug or any remedy designed to temporarily combat the symptoms of a disease, palliative care is that aimed at relieving pain and counteracting the most disabling symptoms of the disease in the terminally ill.
Palliative care actively and completely deals with patients affected by a disease that no longer responds to specific treatments and whose direct consequence is death. The control of pain, other symptoms and psychological, social and spiritual aspects is of fundamental importance.
The aim of palliative care is to achieve the best possible quality of life for patients and their families. Some palliative interventions are applicable even earlier in the course of the disease, in addition to cancer treatment.
Palliative care:
• affirm life and consider dying as a natural event
• do not accelerate or delay death
• provide relief from pain and other ailments
• integrate the psychological and spiritual aspects of assistance
• help patients to live actively until death
• support the family during illness and bereavement.
Palliative care is therefore an approach that improves the quality of life of patients and their families, who are faced with the problems associated with incurable diseases. Palliative care acts through the prevention and relief of suffering, through "early identification and optimal treatment of pain and other problems of a physical, psychosocial and spiritual nature.
