Palliative care and traditional practices of death and dying in Wa'ab (Yap Proper) and in the Outer Islands of Yap

DISCUSSION: Although caution must be exercised not to undermine the existing system, six recommendations on how the health system can intervene can be identified. These involve identifying a key resource person on each island; supplying small, practical "comfort care" kits; making more pain medication available; conducting regular home visits; improving patient-physician and physician-family communication; designing a suicide intervention strategy; and documenting existing variations of how the dying are cared for on the other Outer Islands of Yap.PMID:22235155 | PMC:PMC3254221

Source: Hawaii Medical Journal - January 12, 2012 Category: General Medicine Authors: Gregory G Maskarinec Kelly Yalmadau Maryann R Maluchmai Petra Tun Cyril Yinnifel W Thane Hancock Source Type: research