Study says DR does not have health regulations on palliative care

Within the framework of the 2024 Annual Congress of Psychology (CAPSI) of INTEC, psychologists suggest that the majority of healthcare centres in the country require structural and health adaptations to improve care services for terminally ill patients.

SANTO DOMINGO.- The Dominican Republic does not have regulations governing palliative care, nor specialties that train professionals in this branch of health that provides care to people with serious illnesses, the investigation concluded. “Interdisciplinary intervention in palliative care in the Dominican Republic and the relationship between the degree of pain and the quality of life of terminally ill patients”, presented during the first Annual Congress of Psychology (CAPSI 2024) of the Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo (INTEC).

El Area of ​​Social Sciences and Humanities, through the Psychology program, held CAPSI 2024 with the aim of being a space for meeting, learning and exchange where teachers, graduates and students of the university, together with national and international experts, share the results of their research and advances in the field of psychology and its various professional areas. This event took place within the framework of the Intecnología 2024 technology fair.

The research took into account evaluations of the services offered in health centres that treat terminally ill patients, by the patients themselves, their relatives and the healthcare team that cares for them.

The Arima research team from the Social Sciences and Humanities Area of ​​the university, made up of professors Maricécili Mora, Patricia Liranzo and Julissa Gómez and graduates Joan Noboa, Erimar Hurtado, José Morel and Mariel Ferreira, presented the study that aimed to describe the interdisciplinary intervention in palliative care and the relationship between the degree of pain and the quality of life of patients with terminal illnesses in the city of Santo Domingo.

Maricécili Mora, a clinical and health psychologist, commented in her presentation that this is the first time that such a comprehensive study has been carried out that evaluates how palliative care works in the country, which serves as a basis for the development of research on the subject. Likewise, the INTEC professor cited the case of the master's degree in Clinical and Health Psychology offered by INTEC, a postgraduate degree that includes a subject on palliative care.

Patricia Liranzo, a clinical psychologist and researcher on the project, presented the results, which show the need for structural and health adjustments to improve environmental conditions and optimize and publicize care services.

"It is necessary to include psychological services, which, although it is true that they exist, the patients participating in the study sample stated, for the most part, that they had not used them or were unaware of this facility," said Liranzo.

Among the conclusions of the research, Mora considered it pertinent that health professionals and other key actors "make a joint effort to communicate in order to define the relevant treatment courses in each case."

She added that “the results of this research could constitute a frame of reference for improvements in existing palliative medicine and palliative care practices, and a contribution to raising awareness among public policy makers and health actors involved in the formulation of a law regulating palliative care.”