PODCAST. The image that has appeared in the media of palliative care is in many ways incorrect. Professor Joakim Öhlén is the latest guest in the podcast Akademiliv (podcast in Swedish).
Here you can hear the podcast with Joakim Öhlén: https://soundcloud.com/sahlgrenskaakademin/podgasten-joakim-ohlen-bilden-av-palliativ-vard-behover-nyanseras
Patients do not have to be dying to receive palliative care, instead, according to Joakim Öhlén, palliative care is a kind of life help, which helps patients to live for the rest of their lives. He describes it as an active care where the caregivers try to predict which symptoms and needs need to be alleviated. Palliative care is often given in parallel with the patient’s disease-specific care and treatment, which can, however, be phased out in the final stages. What is called end-of-life care is a phase that is part of palliative care.
Joakim Öhlen is a professor of nursing and an expert in palliative care. He is also the director of the Center for Person-Centered Care at the University of Gothenburg, and has a combination position at Sahlgrenska University Hospital where he leads work with practical knowledge development within the Palliative Care Center. For the Swedish Nurses’ Association, he is also a scientific councilor in palliative care.
The interviewers are the communicators Lovisa Aijmer and Elin Lindström, both at Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg.
TEXT: ELIN LINDSTRÖM
