Palliative versus intensive care from the perspective of the medical rescue service.

According to surveys conducted over the last 10 years, more than 80 % of our population want to live with their loved ones at the end of life. With the ageing of the population and the success of medicine in the early stages of terminal illness, the trajectory and needs at the end of life are gradually changing. The need for health care support is increasing, and for most patients this means the need for 24/7 availability of health care, in this context in the home environment of the terminally ill patient.

NECPAL Tool Aids Early Identification of Palliative Care Needs.

A key issue in the development of population-based access to palliative care is identification of appropriate patients. To evaluate the NECPAL (NECesidades Paliativas) tool to identify unmet palliative care needs in the Czech Republic in regional hospitals of the Vysocina region. We used the End-of-Life care information system (ELFis) to evaluate prognostication to aid the identification of palliative care needs.

Factors influencing the end-of-life decisionmaking process about care in hospitalized patients.

The quality of end-of-life care of hospitalized patients is an important topic, but so far little explored in the Czech Republic. The aim of this study was to map the factors influencing the end-of-life care decision-making process in selected Czech hospitals and to describe it based on data from medical records and from the perspective of a doctor. The research included data obtained from the medical records of 240 deceased patients (mean age 76.

Building Specialized Palliative Care for the Czech Republic: A Fifteen-Year Leadership Journey in a Developing Country.

Since its creation, the Czech Republic has developed an advanced health system and social system. Life expectancy at birth has increased by an average of 7 years in only 20 years. However, polymorbidity and multicausality have now become topics of concern.

[Geriatric palliative care].

Geriatric palliative care must be based on quality geriatric medicine. This applies in particular the multidisciplinary care of patients with geriatric frailty syndrome, most often associated with the polymorbidity of chronic diseases. The model of early indication of the needs of fragile geriatric patients is not more widely available in the current Czech health and social system.

Complex decision making in patients with dementia in an internal medicine department.

With the increase of polymorbidity, extending life expectancy and improving treatment options for chronic diseases, the care for dementia is moving into other areas of medicine. The length and quality of life with advanced dementia is directly dependent on the quality of medical and nursing care, early detection and treatment of complications, nutritional support and palliative care plan. Significant is also the support for family carers.

[Palliative care in Czech Republic in 2016].

In the Czech Republic more than 70,000 patients with chronic incurable diseases need palliative care each year. In 50,000 this need is manageable in the context of general palliative care, 20,000 patients would greatly benefited from specialized palliative care. Most chronically ill patients (> 60 %) died in acute or post acute inpatient health care facilities.

[Palliative care and chronic heart failure].

Heart failure is a very common clinical syndrome in cardiology which reduces life expectancy and has a significant impact on the quality of life. The treatment of heart failure improves survival thus the number of patients who reach the terminal state increases with this diagnosis. Major symptoms and psychosocial difficulties begin to appear during therapy which aims to prolong life or cure the life limiting illnesses.

[About pain - otherwise].

Unlabelled: We can speak about palliative medicine from different points of view. Twelve years in hospice care and my clinical, health policy and foreign experiences have ensured me that our medical service is one of the best in the world. Unfortunately, it is not completely balanced to acute care and does not have ability to reflect the needs of chronically ill patients.

Spiritual support interventions in nursing care for patients suffering death anxiety in the final phase of life.

Purpose: To investigate which activities from the 'Spiritual Support' intervention of the Nursing Interventions Classification (NIC) are used in patients with the nursing diagnosis 'Death Anxiety' in the Czech Republic, and which activities could feasibly be implemented into practice.

Method: The study surveyed 468 Czech nurses using a quantitative questionnaire with Likert scales.

Results: The most frequently used activity was 'Treat individual with dignity and respect' and the least frequently used was 'Pray with the individual'.