palliative care

Syllable breakdown

Dictionary meaning

a specialised approach to medical care focused on relieving the symptoms, pain, and stress associated with serious illness, with the goal of improving quality of life for both patients and their families, applicable at any stage of illness alongside curative treatment rather than being reserved for the final weeks of life; palliative care addresses physical suffering through pain management and symptom control, psychological distress through counselling and psychiatric support, social needs through coordination of care and family support, and spiritual dimensions through chaplaincy and existential care; pioneered by Dame Cicely Saunders at St Christopher's Hospice in London in the 1960s, the hospice and palliative care movement has established a global infrastructure of specialist services that has transformed the experience of serious illness and dying across the world