The evolution of palliative care

An encounter with one patient in 1948 was the catalyst for the Hospice move ment. The challenge to undertake appropriate pain and symptom control toget her with experience in further listening to patients in the small number of homes especially planned for dying people, finally came together juring th e 1960s as the impetus for the first modern hospice which opened in 1967. S ince then, palliative care has been developing worldwide and has shown that the basic principles demonstrated in those early years can be interpreted in various cultures and with different levels of resources. Symptom control by a multi-professional team backed by research and education of both prof essionals and public has spread both into home care and into general hospit als. The family is seen as the unit of care as it finds its own potential, searches for meaning and makes the achievements possible at the end of life . (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.