Developing Palliative Care Services for Patients Using Medical Cannabis

Abstract

Introduction: Currently, cannabis is being used more in medicine. Many research studies have mentioned the benefits of using cannabis, especially for patients who are suffering from illnesses that cannot be treated with conventional medicine, such as those who require palliative care. This group of patients often experience physical and mental distress, as well as pain from their illness, thus there has been an effort to develop care for these patients using cannabis to provide them with better access to services and improve their quality of life with fewer side effects.

Objective: To study quality of life in palliative care with medical cannabis.

Method: The study design was a retrospective descriptive study that reviewed the quality of life in palliative patients at the medical cannabis clinic in Lahansai hospital between December 2019 and March 2022. Twenty-one patients were recorded for quality of life, discomfort symptoms using the EQ-5D-5L, and side effects after receiving medical cannabis. Data were analyzed using percentages, means, standard deviations and paired t- test.

Result: After receiving medical cannabis, among 21 palliative care patients, 70.6% experienced an increase in quality of life, report relief of pain by using visual analog scale with score reduced from 7.6 to 4.3 (p-value<0.000). The side effects from medical cannabis were dry mouth (9.5%), palpitations (4.8%) and dizziness (4.8%).

Conclusion: Medical cannabis can improve quality of life in palliative care, with minimal serious side effects.