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Competing discourses in palliative care

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Abstract

Background

Palliative care focuses on early identification as well as prevention and alleviation of suffering. Previous studies have established that palliative care is a disciplinary area in a state of transformation due to the involvement of different professional categories and that nursing care in the palliative context is influenced by the dominance of the medical perspective.

Aim

This study aimed to describe palliative care from a nursing perspective prior to the implementation of a palliative care programme.

Patients and methods

The approach was inspired by the ethnographic method and a constructionist perspective was used as a theoretical framework, as the focus was on existing palliative care discourses. Field studies were conducted on a ward where palliative care was provided to patients at the end of life. Approval for the study was granted by the Ethics Committee at Sahlgrenska Academy. Data were collected by means of participant field studies, informal deliberations and other relevant documents.

Main results

Four different discourses were discerned: caring, non-caring, curing and the organisation.

Conclusions

The ethos on the ward was strongly linked to the medical discourse. We consider that a prerequisite for the organisation of palliative care is an expressed caring perspective based on the patients' experiences of suffering, which perspective is lacking in the curing and organisational discourses.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Nursing, Health and Culture, University College West, SE-461 86, Trollhättan, Sweden

    Elisabeth Dahlborg-Lyckhage

  2. Institute of Health and Care Sciences, Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, Box 457, 405 30, Gothenburg, Sweden

    Eva Lidén

Authors
  1. Elisabeth Dahlborg-Lyckhage
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  2. Eva Lidén
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Correspondence to Elisabeth Dahlborg-Lyckhage.

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Dahlborg-Lyckhage, E., Lidén, E. Competing discourses in palliative care. Support Care Cancer 18, 573–582 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-009-0691-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-009-0691-6

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