Clinical Manual of Palliative Care for Any Setting : Toward Universal Contextually-Adapted Access

Abstract

This manual is an easy-to-use clinical guide for providing high-quality, contextually adapted palliative care in low- and middle-income settings. Palliative care is a medically and morally imperative response to any acute or chronic suffering associated with serious illness, serious injury, or severe emotional trauma that is not adequately relieved in any setting. Because the most common and severe types of suffering often vary by location and over time, and because the meaning of optimum care often varies by culture, the character of palliative care and the populations it serves also may need to vary. The manual specifically enables practicing clinicians at all levels of healthcare systems to assess and relieve physical, psychological, social, and spiritual suffering using medicines, equipment, and resources that are safe, effective, inexpensive, and widely available in most low- and middle-income countries. It also guides the integration of palliative care into healthcare systems and the adaptation of palliative care to local and individual needs and meaningful cultural practices.