Six basic rules of palliative care and their Buddhist counterparts

Six basic rules of palliative care and their Buddhist counterparts
American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine; by Jonathan D. Walker, Steven Radwany; 10/24
As healthcare workers in palliative care, every day brings its share of awfulness and beauty, suffering and connection, meaning and cynicism. Without a way to support ourselves, we cannot help our patients, let alone one another. But how do we cope? Despite the unpredictability inherent in our work, we can discern certain patterns that offer an approach for dealing with these stressors. These patterns can be summarized into six simple rules of palliative care—rules that are coterminous with the teachings of Buddhism... The Six Rules of Palliative Care we propose are as follows:

1. Stuff happens.
2. Stuff don’t make sense.
3. We can always do more stuff to you.
4. Our healthcare system is a stuff-show.
5. Never put off the good stuff (this applies both to patients and health care workers).
6. Simple kindness can help alleviate some of the bad stuff.