Will Palliative Care Ever Be Cool?

Excerpt

In an article that accompanies this editorial, the authors acknowledge that palliative care may still carry a somewhat negative stigma, but report an amazing 74% rate of use of physician palliative care services. Therefore, in answer to the question in the title, YES! Palliative care can be cool—in Canada. Let us not forget that Canada provided many early contributions to the hospice and palliative care movement, and no mention of surgery and palliative care is complete without acknowledging Dr. Balfour Mount, a surgeon often considered the father of palliative care in North America. Recognizing Canada’s importance in the dissemination of palliative care has helped me personally deal with some of their musical exports, such as Justin Bieber and Nickelback. For a more recent perspective, Palliative Care Matters, a national initiative to achieve a consensus on ensuring high-quality palliative care as part of Canada’s universal healthcare model, can provide some information on utilization and public opinion of palliative care. Awareness of palliative care was found in 58% of Canadians, with 51% having had someone important to them receive palliative care within the past 10 years, of whom 89% were satisfied with the care.1 …