In Montevideo on Friday, 4 December Dr Arrighi, deputy director of the UIC Barcelona Albert J. Jovell Institute of Public Health and Patients visited the Palliative Medicine service of the Hospital Maciel run by Dr Piriz, Director of this service and of the Uruguay National Palliative Care Plan.
This is a benchmark service for the country in that it provides comprehensive care to patients in the terminal stage of their illness and to their families as part of a process that ensures they are looked after in a dignified and humane way. It was set up in 2004 with the purpose of giving appropriate treatment to patients in the final stages of a terminal disease but at the same time offering support to the families in their grief. The task is carried out through inter-hospital referral teams, teams of external consultants and home care.
The Director the Palliative Medicine Service, Gabriela Piriz, stated that the service also provided a model for training professionals in the field of Palliative Care, incorporated into the Teaching Unit of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of the Republic.
The visit served to identify areas of common endeavour in this field of work that can be developed over the coming year.
