5 other things to know about palliative care

Last week, I shared the definition of “palliative care” as described by the center to advance palliative care as well as five things that each patient and family member should know what palliative care is and how it works.

You don’t think I could just be suspended, right? Here are five more Things that each patient and their families should know about palliative care.

Palliative care is provided by a team.

No one can have all the answers. For example, the pain of a patient may never be well controlled if she has distress on personal or spiritual issues. Doctors do medical problems very well, but the disease has an impact on the whole person. Palliative care teams include doctors, nurses, social workers, chaplains, dietitians, volunteers and any important person in the care of a specific patient and their needs.

Palliative care is working with other suppliers for additional support.

Your doctor is always your doctor and he is still heading. Palliative care teams do not come and do not take over from those who care about you. They help them rather. It is similar to the concept of a team in plane trips. You would not pilot a large commercial jet with only a pilot; You need a co -pilot, on -board agents, air traffic controllers and many others for a safe flight. Palliative care provides these additional services and supports.

Palliative care is appropriate at any age or at the stage of the disease.

You don’t need to be old. You don’t need to die. Palliative care has been used in children and adults of all ages. Sometimes some doctors said that a patient “was not ready for” palliative care. This is not true. The patient and the family are always ready to feel better. The declaration is used by those who do not understand (yet) what palliative care is, to whom it is and what it does!

Palliative care can be provided with treatment.

In palliative care, you agree to stop curative treatment, because it is no longer beneficial or effective. In palliative care, you can always be in the middle of aggressive therapy, such as cancer chemo, for example. Palliative care is not trying to have the treatments arrested, he tries to help you clarify your goals, then match the treatment to these objectives.

Palliative care improves quality, satisfaction and cost.

Many articles have been written on how palliative care improves the quality of care, and the patients and families massively assess palliative care in satisfaction surveys. Once they know what it is, patients want palliative care. Although the cost of care is in everyone’s mind these days, this is not the main objective of palliative care. It turns out, unsurprisingly, that if you find out what patients want, care is cheaper.

Prime! For certain conditions, palliative care can extend life expectancy!

Since I like to give more than requested, my “Top Ten” list has a bonus 11^th article. In recent studies, patients with lung cancer who obtained palliative care at the start of treatment have lived much longer than those who did not do so, all other things being equal elsewhere. It turned out that focusing on the help of patients to better feel the relief of stress and burden, which both have a negative impact on health. Palliative care has also had the same effect in other conditions, such as heart failure.

Last update: November 6, 2018