Hospice - the ideology and perspectives in Estonia

Background: Death and dying tend to be taboo for much of humankind. Themes about death and life ending have not been popular in Estonia because of its cultural traditions and history. Aims: To describe the attitudes of Estonian professionals towards death and dying and to describe some future visions of hospice service in Estonia. Methods: The theoretical view in this work comes from hospice conception and empirical data gained from structured interviews with professionals who are connected with dying people in their everyday work. Findings: Some ideas of the hospice conception (e.g. pain control and psychosocial support) are used in hospitals and general care centres in Estonia, but there is little respect towards dying people and their needs. The idea of interdisciplinary teamwork is not in use.