Palliative Care the Physician Assistant Role

A strategy for incorporating palliative care and end-of-life instruction into physician assistant education.

PURPOSE Physician assistant (PA) education has not historically taught end-of-life and palliative care in its curricula. While medical education has been reformed in the past 15 years to include palliative care, PA education lags behind. The Medical College of Georgia PA Program obtained a HRSA grant in 2009 to teach PA students about end-of-life issues and improve palliative education in the d...

Physician-assisted death is not palliative care.

The Role of the Physician Assistant in Oncology

T he dreaded phone call. It is a Friday afternoon, and I am sitting at my desk at the University of Arizona Cancer Center trying to decide the best way to deliver some very bad news to a lovely patient with resected pancreatic cancer. Mrs. X is a 60-year-old woman who took excellent physical care of herself all her life. She had no health problems until she was diagnosed with locally advanced p...

a role in palliative care ?

Psychedelic drugs are agents that may assist a person in approaching existential issues. They enjoy a rich history in ancient, non-Western cultures and, more recently, in psychiatric research of the 1960s. After a 40-year hiatus, international trials are now underway to revisit the role of psychedelic drugs in assisting patients with terminal cancer to explore – and resolve – anxiety-inducing e...

The Role of Dentists in Palliative Care

The dentist’s play an important role in palliative care by improving the quality of life of the patient. Palliative care has gained importance in the recent years. A trained dentist will be a good team mate for the oncologist, radiotherapist and other doctors of the palliative care team. Palliative care is an approach that improves the quality of life of patients and their families through the ...