A qualitative study of cancer patients receiving palliative support in hospital care

This article focuses on patients with cancer during the terminal phase. It deals with the care that individuals need after trying to seek health solutions in different hospitals when the disease is deemed incurable and they then require palliative care (PC) to obtain welfare and assist them to die. In the Spanish health system these patients are cared for in palliative care units or services. The main objective of palliative care is to give comfort. Comforting is destined to alleviate and support patients and families during the process of health / disease / care / patient death. During this period, it is important to care for the ailing body. Similarly, when a disease is incurable, the pain and suffering runs its inexorable course and leaves perceptible traces. These signs can be an indication that death is nigh. Although scientific advances have produced positive results in the control of pain, in some cases there are critical moments when situations of misery and despair arise for the terminal patients.

Palliative care; Cancer patient; End of life; Body; Pain; Death; Qualitative research