A comparative study of the status of supportive‑palliative care provision in Iran and selected countries: Strengths and weaknesses
نویسندگان
1 Department of Anesthesiology, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
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4 Department of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology, School of Medicine, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran
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چکیده
BACKGROUND: Terminally, illnesses such as cancer, AIDS, dementia, and advanced heart diseasewill require special supportive and palliative care, although a few numbers of these patients areprovided with these services.The aim of the present study was to perform a comparative study ofsupportive‑palliative care provision in selected countries.MATERIALS AND METHODS: This research was a descriptive comparative study that its researchpopulation was the frameworks of palliative and supportive care provision in Egypt, Turkey, America,Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, and China. These frameworks were compared across sixdimensions of service receivers, financing, providers, service provider centers, type of servicesprovided, and training. Data collection tool has included the checklist and information sources,documents, evidence, articles, books, and journals collected through the Internet and organizationsrelated to the health information of selected countries and by the library search. Data were investigatedand analyzed using the data collection tool and checklists.FINDINGS: The findings showed that the developed countries having decentralized trusteeshipstructure had a more favorable status in palliative and supportive care provision. The type of servicesprovided was a combination of mental, psychological, social, spiritual, financial, and physical andcommunication services. Provider centers included hospital, the elderly, and cancer and charitycenters.CONCLUSION: Regarding the investigation and recognition of the status of supportive‑palliativecare provision, it was observed that the provision of these services was a concern of the selectedcountries, but they did not have a defined model or pattern to provide these services. Therefore, itis suggested that each country takes a step to redesign and define frameworks and structures inthe evolution of supportive‑palliative cares in accordance with the particular conditions, indigenousculture, religion, and other effective cases of that country and pays special attention to the role andposition of supportive‑palliative cares.
