“Palliative care is about finding meaning, peace, and comfort in the face of suffering. It is about putting the patient at the center and providing them with the best possible care.”

Dr. Balfour Mount – considered the father of Palliative Care

What is Palliative Care?

It is a specialty in medicine focused on managing the symptoms experienced by a patient with a chronic or serious illness. Attention is also on the patient’s psychological and spiritual well-being, as well as the well-being of those around them.

Is Palliative Care the same as Hospice?

No. Palliative discussions can include considerations for end-of-life, but hospice is specifically focused on comfort care when a patient has decided they are no longer going to participate in treatment. They want to be treated for things that can bring relief, like a fever or infection, but they do not want to go to the hospital. They do not want to go to regular doctor’s appointments or get labs or scans. They are not willing to do big interventions at the end of their life like CPR or intubation. They prefer to be where they consider home, doing as much as they can as long as they can.

Palliative care can be added when a patient is going through active treatment for an illness that is impacting their life – e.g. COPD, CHF, cancer, MS, post surgery. Palliative discussions focus on the symptoms that are causing the patient distress, such as: pain, depression, anxiety, shortness of breath, fatigue, problems with appetite, nausea.

Palliative providers recognize that the patient’s social, emotional, psychological, spiritual world are all part of whatever is going on for the patient medically. The discussions with the patient, and those around them, are longer than regular appointments. The initial goal is to get to know the patient, and their supports, to learn how the illness is impacting their lives and what is most important to relieve their suffering. Appointments may happen several times, over a few months, with some follow up in between, depending on the illness and the needs of the patient. This will be determined in the first consultation session and can be adjusted as needs change.

How does Palliative Care happen?

Each medical system has its own referral process and connection with palliative providers. In some systems, there is an inpatient team that can be requested when the patient is in the hospital. In some systems, patients can request palliative consultation through their outpatient primary care physician. In addition to the palliative physicians, other contacts maybe a social worker or a therapist, a medical assistant/care coordinator who may be the point person to contact when questions come up, and a chaplain or a recommendation to contact someone in your faith community for spiritual support. This group is what I call your “committee of support.”

My goal is to de-mystify Palliative Care, by increasing public understanding of what it is and how it can help patients and their supports. I will be adding new posts on Wednesdays, such as learning how to navigate conflict that can arise, how to have supportive conversations when someone gets a big diagnosis, what you can offer when someone is very ill, and many other situations that become part of a very sensitive conversation.

And, spoiler alert, I believe in laughter – finding the bright moments in the hardest of times- so I will share those too.

Welcome! I am very glad you are here. And I want to hear from you – your thoughts, your questions, your fears, your experiences. Please stay tuned for ways to submit.