Physiotherapy on palliative care with cancer patients

Abstract

Palliative care adopts a humanistic and integrated approach for terminal patients treatment, controling the symptoms and increasing the quality of life. In order to achieve an complete assistence, it is necessary a multiprofessional team able to accomplish all physical, psychologic and spiritual needs of these patients. Aiming to define the physiotherapist performance in the Palliative Care, we had done an extensive review of the present literature, and we had analyzed it critically. We had verified that physiotherapy has many useful interventionist methods to apply in palliative care with cancer patients. Indeed, it is important for this professional to be adapted to philosophical and ethical aspects required for the treatment of terminal patients, keeping the communication with patients and with others professionals, cultivating, with responsibility, the patients functional independence and hope, learning to deal with obit moments. The main physiotherapeutic interventions analized for terminal patients were analgesic methods, interventions on psyco-physical symptoms like depression and stress, physiotherapeutic care in osteomyoarticular complications, tecniques to improve fatigue and pulmonary function, performance in neurologic patients care and in the particularities of pediatrics treatment. We concluded that due to the potential benefits of physiotherapy on Palliative Care, it is necessary to diffuse related themes as humanization, death and Palliative Care for physiotherapist and more investigations about the thema are necessary in order to otimize the performance of this professional in oncologic process.