Surgery and palliative medicine: new horizons

Area of Science:

• Palliative Care
• Surgical Medicine
• Interdisciplinary Healthcare

Background:

• Historically, surgeons contributed to hospice care, but a recent disconnect exists between palliative medicine and surgery.
• There's a notable lack of surgical literature contributions to palliative care.
• Palliative care practitioners often lack familiarity with complex surgical illnesses.

Purpose of the Study:

• To highlight the disconnect between palliative medicine and surgery.
• To emphasize the need for improved understanding of chronic, incurable surgical illnesses within palliative care.
• To propose a solution for better integration of surgical and palliative care.

Main Methods:

• Literature review of surgical contributions to palliative care.
• Analysis of palliative care practitioner familiarity with surgical conditions.
• Conceptual framework for interdisciplinary collaboration.

Main Results:

• Significant gap identified in the integration of surgical and palliative care.
• Paucity of research and education bridging the two specialties.
• Current training inadequately prepares practitioners for chronic surgical conditions.

Conclusions:

• The distant relationship between palliative medicine and surgery hinders comprehensive care for patients with chronic, incurable surgical illnesses.
• Addressing this gap requires a structured, interdisciplinary program.
• Collaboration is essential to improve patient outcomes and address the unique needs of surgical patients in palliative care.