Last week, I shared the definition of “palliative care” as outlined by the Center to Advance Palliative Care as well as five things every patient and family member should know about what palliative care is and how it works.
You don’t think I could just leave you hanging, could I? Here’s five more things every patient and their family should know about palliative care.
Palliative Care is Provided by a Team.
No one person can have all the answers. For example, a patient’s pain may never be well controlled if they are having distress about personal or spiritual matters. Doctors do very well with medical issues, but illness impacts the WHOLE person. Palliative care teams include doctors, nurses, social workers, chaplains, dieticians, volunteers, and anyone important in the care of a specific patient and their needs.
Palliative Care Works with Other Providers for Extra Support.
Your doctor is still your doctor, and he or she still directs your care. Palliative care teams do not come in and take over from those who care for you. Rather, they assist them. It is similar to the concept of a team in air travel. You wouldn’t fly a large commercial jet with only a pilot; you need a co-pilot, flight attendants, air traffic controllers, and many others for a safe flight. Palliative care provides those extra services and supports.
Palliative Care is Appropriate at Any Age or Stage of Illness.
You don’t have to be old. You don’t have to be dying. Palliative care has been used in children, and adults of all ages. Sometimes some doctors have said that a patient “isn’t ready for” palliative care. That is not true. The patient and family are always ready to feel better. The statement is used by those who do not (yet) understand what palliative care is, who it is for, and what it does!
Palliative Care can be Provided with Treatment.
In hospice care, you agree to stop curative treatment, since it is no longer beneficial or effective. In palliative care, you can still be in the midst of aggressive therapy, like chemo for cancer, for example. Palliative care does not try to make you stop treatments, it tries to help you clarify your goals, and then match treatment to those goals.
Palliative Care Improves Quality, Satisfaction and Cost.
Many articles have been written about how palliative care improves measures of quality of care, and patients and families overwhelmingly rate palliative care highly on satisfaction surveys. Once they know what it is, patients WANT palliative care. While cost of care is on everyone’s mind these days, it is not the major focus of palliative care. It turns out, not surprisingly, that if you find out what patients want, the care is less expensive.
Bonus! For Certain Conditions, Palliative Care May Extend Life Expectancy!
Since I like to give more than requested, my “top ten” list has a bonus 11th item. In recent studies, patients with lung cancer who got palliative care early in the course of treatment lived significantly longer than those who did not, all other things being equal. It turned out that focusing on helping patients feel better relieved them of stress and burden, both of which negatively impact health status. Having palliative care has been shown to have the same effect in other conditions, too, like heart failure.
Last Updated: November 6, 2018
1 Trackback