A million unpaid aid. Palliative care for dying patients will provide Prague together with an ambulance News Pražská Drbna
Mobile palliative care will now provide the Prague ambulance service in the metropolises. A special team will be set up to provide acute care at the place of residence for patients who are in the final stages of an incurable disease. Acute hospitalization has no benefit to these patients in some cases, quite the opposite. The goal of the team will be to need special care for patients in their home environment or its transport to specialized workplaces, so that the journey is as short as possible and no stressful.
“We want a dignified departure from this world for patients and their families”
In cooperation with the Prague Ambulance Prague, we will provide mobile specialized palliative care in the metropolis. The purpose will be to improve the care of patients in the final stage of incurable disease after an emergency call for transmission 155. The team’s goal will be to provide this specialized palliative care, in line with the patient’s wishes and reducing the number of hospitalizations in health facilities.
According to the councilor for social policy and health Milena Johnová (Prague Sobě) eighty percent of people want to spend the last moments of their lives at home with their loved ones, but only twenty percent will be fulfilled. “By launching a new mobile palliative care service through Prague ambulances, we want to reverse this disparity and enable people to leave this world with dignity, without unnecessary stress for their families as well, ” say John.
The mobile palliative care team would travel directly to their homes and provide them with the best possible care without having to transport them to the hospital. In some cases, hospitalization is no longer medically beneficial for the patient, and a change in the environment will reduce his living comfort.
Stabilization of the patient in the home environment
During the seven weeks of the pilot verification, the dispatchers of the Prague ambulance evaluated 69 patients as palliatively relevant when receiving emergency calls. After examination and treatment, 31 patients were transported to the hospital, 32 patients were left at home in the care of an informed family after treatment. Six patients died at home while providing pre-hospital emergency care.
During their work, the staff of the Prague ambulance meet with patients, their illnesses and the state of health must be cured by modern medicine. “The establishment of a mobile palliative care team will help these people to spend the last moments of their life with dignity, without pain and with as little complication as possible, ideally in the family circle, if the patient so wishes.” said the director of the Prague ambulance Petr Kolouch.
The operator of the emergency medical center 155 then identifies the patient as “palliatively relevant” using the three target areas of questions. Subsequently, a palliative team with an emergency and palliative medicine doctor will be sent to him, who will then strive to stabilize the patient in the home environment.
The team would then determine the appropriate medicine and provide the patient and relatives with the necessary information, while also providing follow-up care with some of the hospice care providers. If patients need a bed in their facilities or would come home for the patients.
A million unpaid aid
He will also serve as one of the physicians of the palliative team Marek Brožek “When our palliative teams or outreach groups provided by these patients are properly cared for, they can ensure that the ambulance service does not return to them and at the same time have the necessary comfort and medication, for example to relieve pain.” adds Brožek.
In the case of transporting a patient to a medical facility, the team will direct the patient to a cooperating teaching hospital with a palliative team. The facility should provide the patient with care directly at the palliative ward with the shortest possible transport, so that there is a new environment for him that cannot be stressful and thus avoid possible complications. This palliative team should cost the metropolis about 5.3 to 6 million crowns a year.