Early Palliative Care: a video for health and care professionals

This short video aims to help health and care professionals to identify people who are living with progressive illnesses better, to assess their needs in a timely manner and to start discussing and planning future care with them.

It explains the reasons for early palliative care. Early palliative care improves life’s quality and in some cases, may even prolong life. It promotes “realistic medicine," an approach which puts the person receiving health and care at the centre of decision-making (Chief Medical Officer for Scotland).

Read the full report Realising Realistic Medicine

Clinicians, patients and families can all benefit from carefully integrating early palliative care with on-going treatment so people can both live and die well.

The information in this video is based on detailed research with patients, families, doctors, nurses and other health and care professionals about people's experiences living with declining health and dying. 'Palliative Care from Diagnosis to Death' was published in February 2017 in the BMJ. 

Read the full article here.

Key takeaway points:

• Identify people early and introduce early, integrated palliative care

• Consider patients' different dimensions of need at present, and discuss what matters most to them

• Discuss what happens in the different illness trajectories so they know when they might need the most help 

• Make an individual anticipatory care plan with patients and families; document, communicate and review this regularly with all involved

If you wish to show this video to a group for teaching purposes, please see the accompanying notes and suggested discussion questions:

This video is available in 4 additional languages:

                  Spanish: The voiceover and text of this video have been translated into Spanish

                  Italian: The voiceover of this video has been translated into Italian

                  Portuguese: The text of this video has been translated into Portuguese

                  French: The text of this video has been translated into French