Palliative Medicine

Palliative medicine is a special kind of patient/family-centered health care that aims to improve quality of life--focusing on management of pain and other troubling symptoms. It is a team approach that includes medical providers, nurses, dieticians, social workers, chaplains, respiratory therapists, and pharmacists to meet patient/family needs on a variety of levels: physical, emotional and social concerns, spiritual, nutrition, cultural values, and beliefs regardless of the stage of the disease. It may be ordered to support curative treatments, life-prolonging therapies, or end-of-life care with attention to patient goals and wishes.

As an important part of comprehensive cancer care, palliative medicine may be ordered if a person is hospitalized. A comprehensive assessment may include the following:

• Current symptoms and available treatments for relief
• Decisions about life-sustaining and life-extending measures in relation to the natural course of the disease
• Plans for when the medical condition improves, changes or worsens with support for family including disease and self-care education
• Assistance with advanced medical directives
• Spiritual support and prayers for healing
• Arrangements for post-hospital care

Palliative medicine may be an option for you if you suffer from a serious progressive illness or life-threatening illness while hospitalized for:

• Cancer
• Chronic lung disease
• Heart disease
• Liver disease
• Kidney failure
• Alzheimer’s disease
• Neurological diseases such as Parkinson’s disease, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or stroke

Palliative medicine provides help for families and caregivers with community resources, emotional support, spiritual care, disease education, and level of care information.

For those who are terminally ill and can no longer benefit from aggressive hospital treatments, our palliative medicine team assists with transitioning person's to hospice care for comfort care, dignity, and the ongoing celebration of life.