Attention to palliative care in the Netherlands has been rapidly increasing over the last several years with more expert palliative care teams established at hospitals. There also has been a push towards the development of nationwide quality standards and an education program for all healthcare professionals to improve the quality and effectiveness of supportive care.
“Traditionally, hospital care is usually focused on diagnosis, treatment, and discharge,” says Prof. Van Zuylen. “Several studies have found that supportive care is seriously lacking for oncology patients, especially end-of-life care.”
Additional challenges include a lack of appropriate staffing and dedicated outpatient clinics, sufficient cooperation between caregivers, including GPs, and the need for uniform education to improve the provision of supportive care. “We must strive to ensure that every patient has access to this important additional layer of support.”
“After all, without quality of life, surviving cancer or living with cancer has no meaning,” says Prof. Van Zuylen. “We need to consider the physical, psychological, social, and spiritual needs of patients to provide the best possible care.”
‘Fascinating and instructive conversations’
In the PalliaPodcast, healthcare professionals share their experience with palliative care and advance care planning.
How and when do you start conversations about treatment wishes and care needs with patients and their families? What are the bottlenecks? What if the first conversation doesn't go as expected?
PalliaPodcast is an initiative of Palliative Care Netherlands (PZNL) and made possible by ZonMw. In episode 3, together with Daisy Janssen, specialist in geriatric medicine and Professor of Geriatric Medicine at Maastricht University, Prof. Lia van Zuylen talks about recognizing the right moment for a conversation about advance care planning. Tune in to this and other interesting and instructive conversations on PalliaPodcast (in Dutch).
Research theme Supportive Care
The theme Supportive Care includes research on psychological support, effects of physical activity, improvement of nutrition, early detection of symptoms, advance care planning, and the organization of palliative care and decisions at the end of life.
Do you feel your research belongs here? Do you want to actively join the theme group
Supportive Care? Any questions? Please send an email to Prof. Lia van Zuylen. ‘We are always up for a conversation about supportive care!’
Composition of thematic group Supportive Care:
Annemarie Braamse
Annemarie Becker
Martijn Stuiver
Chiara Jongerius
Nicolette Wierdsma
Annicka van der Plas
Anne Eskes
Els Nieveen van Dijkum
Zita Kruize
Olaf Geerse
Theme Leader:
Lia van Zuylen
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Text by Laura Roy.
This article was created for Cancer Center Amsterdam.
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