S1E150: Palliative care is for living, not just dying: Talk about it sooner

Your guide to a kinder end-of-life journey in the ICU.

Synopsis: Every first Wednesday of the month, The Straits Times helps you make sense of health matters that affect you.

Tan Tock Seng Hospital and National University Hospital recently launched a new initiative called A Kinder ICU that is supported by a 3.93 million grant from the Lien Foundation. The aim is to integrate palliative care into standard ICU treatment.

In this episode, Joyce Teo finds out more about the initiative and the nature of palliative care from her two guests. They discuss how palliative care has evolved and how it provides essential support to patients who are critically ill and their families.

The conversation also explores the importance of reflecting on the desired quality of life as one approaches the end of their journey.

The two guests are Assistant Professor Neo Han Yee, a senior consultant and head of the palliative medicine department at Tan Tock Seng Hospital, and Ms Charmaine Sim, an advanced practice nurse at the medical intensive care unit at the National University Hospital.

Highlights (click/tap above):

2:26 Palliative care 10-20 years ago vs now

5:28 Feeling conflicted seeing a family member in the ICU

9:27 There is an art to palliative care

10:23 Life presents you with unexpected crises

14:10 Medical staff will also feel distressed if they are imposing pain on patients

21:12 Helping the family of a man who fell critically ill just before he was about to return home

23:40 Is it fair to keep trying to save his life?

25:03 The doctor is legally authorised to withdraw life support when life-sustaining efforts are futile, but there's a need to help the family hold that grief

29:30 Filial piety is a virtue but it can also create a sense of guilt

34:26 What is the minimum quality of life you want to live by?

35:43 You cannot assume that you will pass away in your sleep...

Read Joyce Teo's stories: https://str.sg/JbxN

Host: Joyce Teo ([email protected])

Produced and edited by: Amirul Karim

Executive producers: Ernest Luis and Lynda Hong

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