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Chronic diseases are represented by a group of diseases consisting of a long history, long latency period and a prolonged, multifactorial, risky asymptomatic course, with an important participation in the environment. They cause irreversible pathological changes with residual disability, and one of the most important at a disabling level is Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD), characterized by a syndromic diagnosis of progressive and irreversible loss of renal and clearance functions (BARBOSA et al., 2006).
The term Palliative Care (PC) was defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1990 and revised in 2002 and 2017 as “an approach that improves quality of life of patients (adults and children) and their families, who face problems associated with life-threatening diseases”. Population aging, together with the evolution of care, makes the discussion about social, psychological and physical problems increasingly important, for the accumulation of comorbidities interferes with life quality and in the daily living with these symptoms, in addition to the physical dependence they may lead to. Despite this postponement, death is certain, even with the effort of health professionals. Therefore, in view of this reality, the importance of talking about a patient-centered PC becomes paramount (BARROS et al., 2022) (RIBEIRO et al., 2019).
The following is an investigative, exploratory, prospective study. It was based on a questionnaire aplication adapted from Davison (2010).Inclusion criteria were: stage 4 or 5 CKD patients, over 18 years old, undergoing hemodialysis treatment at Mafra Kidney Disease Treatment Center – Santa Catarina, who accepted the research by signing the informed consent form. We obtained a total of 84 participating individuals during the 1-month collection period following the approval by the ethics committee in human research. The exclusion criteria were patients who, for any reason, expressed the desire to withdraw from the research at any time during data collection.
The evolution of CKD has unique and different characteristics from most terminal diseases; it is known that it is progressive, debilitating and inevitably fatal, so when it comes to palliative care for these patients we have some peculiarities, being important to know the characteristics and needs of the patient and their families and reinforcing the idea of both curative and palliative treatments walking together from diagnosis to death (LUZ et al., 2013).
Patients on dialysis cannot visualize the progression of the disease and believe that their health is improving over time, making it clear that more information and guidance is needed. Even though quality of life during the disease is important, matters related to death are not well seen and often avoided, reinforcing the need for guidance.
Therefore, the dissemination of Palliative Care, specifically with these patients, is essential and needs to be further addressed and discussed in all spheres, from diagnosis to the end of life