What is Palliative Care?
Palliative care is interdisciplinary health care specializing in relief of suffering and achievement of the best quality of life for patients with advanced illness, and their families. It is offered simultaneously with all other appropriate medical treatments, such as blood transfusions, chemotherapy or radiation, if they are necessary to alleviate pain or enhance the quality of life. It does not include experimental procedures, and is supportive care rather than curative.
Palliative care is defined by the World Health Organization as a “the active total care of patients whose disease is not responsive to curative treatment. Control of pain, of other symptoms, and of psychological, social, and spiritual problems is paramount. The goal of palliative care is the achievement of the best possible quality of life for patients and their families.” Our commitment to reducing suffering and bringing comfort and support through palliative care is evident in the variety of techniques and the diverse staff we utilize at our facility.
Palliative care may be appropriate when patients need comfort care but are not yet hospice eligible. Palliative care is primarily directed at providing relief to a terminally ill person through symptom management and pain management. The goal is not to cure, but to provide comfort and maintain the highest possible quality of life for as long as life remains. Well-rounded palliative care programs also address mental health and spiritual needs.
Palliative care–of which hospice is a part–is the term used to describe the clinical approach to the patient with a progressive life-threatening disease which is focused on preserving the quality of life and ensuring that death occurs with comfort and dignity, and in a manner consistent with the desires and values of the patient and family. Palliative care specialists try to encourage all health care professionals to see their roles as enhancing the quality of life of patients with serious progressive disease, by controlling pain and other distressing symptoms, providing psychosocial and spiritual support, and developing systems that can offer practical support to the patient and family. Beth Israel in New York recently formed the first clinical department for pain management and palliative care in a major teaching hospital, which will improve its patients’ access to appropriate pain diagnosis and treatment. One of the country’s most renowned experts in pain management and palliative
