What is the purpose of supportive care during chemotherapy?

Supportive care during chemotherapy is primarily focused on ensuring minimal discomfort and managing side effects that patients may experience as a result of their treatment. Chemotherapy can lead to various adverse effects such as nausea, vomiting, pain, and fatigue, among others. Supportive care encompasses a range of interventions designed to alleviate these symptoms, improve the patient’s quality of life, and make the overall treatment process more tolerable.

This type of care can include medications to manage nausea, pain relief options, hydration therapies, nutritional support, and psychological assistance. By addressing the side effects of chemotherapy, supportive care helps maintain the patient’s physical and emotional well-being, allowing them to continue their treatment regimen with as much comfort as possible.

Other options do not align with the role of supportive care: making treatment less effective would run counter to the goal of optimizing therapeutic outcomes, discouraging patient autonomy is inconsistent with patient-centered care principles, and prolonging the duration of treatment is not a direct goal of supportive measures, which focus on quality of life rather than extending treatment duration.