We enter a sensitive area that must be treated with a certain tact, in the image of the daily work of those working in palliative care. This branch of medicine even today is often associated with terminal illnesses, when in fact its field of intervention has long since expanded to chronic diseases, yet not forgetting its origins. Palliative care aims to improve the patient's quality of life. It is not an alternative to care aimed at controlling the disease, but rather an adjunct to benefit the well-being of an individual confronted with a condition that can generate pain, anger, fears and anxieties.
In this context, cure no longer means only intervening on the disease, but also accompanying the person. Care as a gesture, as a presence, as a form of recognition of the other.
An area that involves as many professional figures as the needs of a patient who decides to accompany therapies.
We discuss this with:
Flavia Maffioli: who has been a palliative care nurse specialist since 2023. She has a long history of continuing education and years of experience in intensive care and geriatric care behind her.
Ilaria Bernardi-Zucca: who is in charge of training tracks in palliative care, oncology and psycho-oncology advance directives and advance care planning.