Antinauseants, antibiotics, stool softeners, corticosteroids. and antidepressants should be used as necessary for symptom management. Because many patients are dying at home, a contingency plan should be developed for medical emergencies to prevent inappropriate hospital admissions, which often include excessive diagnostic studies and therapies. The patient and the family should be treated as a unit in order to lessen the loneliness, guilt, anger, and conflict that often accompany death. The principles of the care of the aged and terminally ill are compatible with the goals of the existing health care system in the United States. In order to define an effective mechanism for delivering these services, the role of the traditional medical center, of the health care professional, and of society will have to be reassessed in light of the hospice concept.
Clinical research is required to define more clearly issues related to the aged and terminally ill.
Practicing physicians and nurses need to be educated in chronic pain and cancer pain diagnosis and management. The curricula of medical and nursing schools should include factual material and clinical experience in pain management, the problems of the aged, and care of the dying.