Social and medical problems of palliative care development in modern Russia

The research analyzes the social and medical problems of palliative care development. Their factors and the indicators for assessing the care provided are identified as well. The study highlights the key points that characterize the quality of life of palliative patients and the important trends towards palliative medicine improvements in Russia as a whole. The paper presents the results of interviews with palliative patients and their relatives. The main problems faced by this category of patients include prompt and effective anesthesia, social and economic hardships, lack of psychological assistance, interdepartmental separation of institutions when providing palliative care. The author concludes that there is a need to introduce an integrated approach to providing palliative care for both patients and their relatives and develop mobile palliative medical and psychosocial services. This study allows one to penetrate the meaning of research and development necessary for enhancing the palliative care of incurable patients and increasing its availability and quality.