Palliative Care for Cancer Patients in the Emergency Department in Iran

Between 33%-46% of admissions in the Emergency Department(ED) are advanced or end-stage cancer patients. They usually stay in emergency for days for management of their symptoms (commonly pain and respiratory distress) or for terminal care.Barriers for delivering palliative care services in the ED:- Traditional attitude among the ED staff that practice life saving approaches for every patient regardless of their disease. - Ambiguous medical rules to protect the ED staff from legal action against them if they refuse to provide futile treatments to satisfy the patients'' family with unrealistic expectations. - Lack of knowledge about palliative care philosophy regarding the better symptom management and terminal care. - To see mortality rate as a failure of the healthcare system even for advanced, incurable cancer patients.There are some suggestions for improving care of this group of patients in the ED.