Abstract The overriding care philosophy in medicine is to prevent death, rather than focus on dying. However, increasing longevity in most parts of the world has resulted for many people in prolonged periods of declining health toward the end of life. This has complicated our understanding of when the dying process begins. As a result, there has been a growing movement within society and among health care systems to focus on finding ways to contribute to the quality of life of patients just before they die. The modern hospice and palliative-care movement has gained distinction as an alternative way of looking at health care. These care philosophies perceive dying as a natural part of the life cycle. Staff members prioritize comfort and quality of life over longevity. However, the goals of hospice and palliative care are often misunderstood by the public. This article is based on interviews with two palliative-care physicians that were conducted as part of a larger study about the place of dying. The goal of these interviews was to obtain the physician perspective of dying at a hospital, at home, and in an institutional setting, as well as to provide readers greater clarity on the palliative and hospice care perspectives within these contexts.

中文翻译：

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临终病人的护理途径：医师视角

摘要 医学中最重要的护理理念是预防死亡，而不是关注死亡。然而，世界大部分地区的长寿已导致许多人在接近生命尽头时健康状况持续恶化。这使我们对死亡过程何时开始的理解变得复杂。因此，社会内部和医疗保健系统之间的运动越来越关注寻找方法来提高患者临终前的生活质量。作为看待医疗保健的另一种方式，现代临终关怀和姑息治疗运动已经获得了独特的地位。这些护理理念将死亡视为生命周期的自然组成部分。工作人员优先考虑舒适度和生活质量，而不是长寿。然而，临终关怀和姑息治疗的目标经常被公众误解。本文基于对两位姑息治疗医生的采访，这些采访是作为关于死亡地点的更大研究的一部分而进行的。这些访谈的目的是获得医生对在医院、家中和机构环境中死亡的看法，并让读者更清楚地了解这些背景下的姑息治疗和临终关怀的观点。