Chronic palliative care: specific practices for Alzheimer's disease sufferers.
BACKGROUND
In France, the government's plan to combat Alzheimer's disease takes into consideration mostly the beginnings of the disease; it does not deal with the sufferers' end of life. For this pathology, the very idea of a palliative care phase and its definition are not straightforward.


METHODS
The object of this qualitative study was to clarify this idea through a series of interviews with 44 professionals.


RESULTS
The study describes three successive phases in the disease trajectory, revealed by changes in the logic of care: the stimulation phase, the chronic palliative care phase, and the terminal palliative phase.


CONCLUSIONS
Alzheimer's disease has a specific phase of chronic palliative care. It presents, for professionals, several types of problems related to communication, pain, and feeding.
Palliative Care Unit, Pitié Salpêtrière Medical School Hospital, and National Center of Resources for Palliative Care FX Bagnoud, 6 avenue Lemierre, 75980 Paris Cedex 20, France.
Jean-Christophe
JC
Mino
Marie-Odile
MO
Frattini
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000523:psychology; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003147:Communication Disorders / Q000209:etiology; D018450:Disease Progression; D004645:Empathy; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000209:etiology; D005602:France / Q000453:epidemiology; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D010146:Pain / Q000209:etiology; D010166:Palliative Care / Q000379:methods* / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D018579:Patient Selection; D024382:Professional Role / Q000523:psychology; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D036301:Qualitative Research; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016526:Workload