title: A Portuguese palliative care unit.
abstract: The background to the development of the first Portuguese palliative care unit is described. The activities of this pioneer unit in Porto, which include patient assistance, teaching and research, are reported, and the paper closes with some general thoughts on the possible ways of providing a more rapid response to the suffering of patients with far advanced chronic diseases in an environment where palliative care is not yet well developed.
authors.affiliation: Instituto Portugues de Oncologia, Unidade de Cuidados Continuados, R. Dr. António Bernardino de Almeida, 4200-072 Porto, Portugal. ferrazg@ipoporto.min-saude.pt or ferrazg@mail.telepac.pt
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Gonçalves
mesh_terms: D006699:Home Care Services; D006757:Hospital Units; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy*; D010166:Palliative Care; D011174:Portugal; D016730:Program Development