Very little has been written on the stress of the people working in a palliative care unit for terminally-ill cancer patients. Here are the results of a prospective research conducted at the Notre-Dame Hospital Palliative Care Unit in Montreal, using a self-rated measure of psychological impairment (Langner's scale). This test was applied as soon as the Unit received its first patients. After one year, we found no increase of reported symptoms and we believe these results are attributable to a good preliminary selection and an effective staff support system.
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