Who benefits from palliative medicine?
Any person suffering with symptoms or effects of advanced illness may be appropriate for palliative interventions. • Those with pain management needs: People living with life-threatening illness may experience pain or discomfort. This pain also affects families and relationships. Palliative care specialists work with patients and their families to identify the cause of pain and the best way to relieve it. Pain may be managed with a variety of medications and interventions and by other means such as massage therapy and relaxation exercises. • Those in need of symptom management: People may experience a variety of symptoms, including loss of appetite, nausea, weakness, difficulty breathing, bowel and bladder problems, and confusion. • Those in need of social, psychological, emotional and spiritual support and decision making: The health of the whole person is important in palliative care. Because of this, palliative care services provide many different kinds of support to both the indivi
