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Review
. 2013 Jul;15(7):374.
doi: 10.1007/s11920-013-0374-3.

Palliative care psychiatry: update on an emerging dimension of psychiatric practice

Nathan Fairman  1 , Scott A Irwin
Affiliations
Review

Palliative care psychiatry: update on an emerging dimension of psychiatric practice

Nathan Fairman et al. Curr Psychiatry Rep. 2013 Jul.

Abstract

Palliative care psychiatry is an emerging subspecialty field at the intersection of Palliative Medicine and Psychiatry. The discipline brings expertise in understanding the psychosocial dimensions of human experience to the care of dying patients and support of their families. The goals of this review are (1) to briefly define palliative care and summarize the evidence for its benefits, (2) to describe the roles for psychiatry within palliative care, (3) to review recent advances in the research and practice of palliative care psychiatry, and (4) to delineate some steps ahead as this sub-field continues to develop, in terms of research, education, and systems-based practice.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Dimensions of distress in advanced, serious illness. From Ferris et al. [11, 48]. Reprinted with permission from Canadian Hospice Palliative Care Association and Frank D. Ferris.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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