Contributed by:
Dr Leon Yeh, Medical Director of Emergency Services – OSF Saint Francis Medical Center
Support care brings together a variety of necessary services that influence the care provided to patients we see daily in the emergency room. Palliative care and healthcare care programs and hospital teams bring together doctors, nurses, care managers, ethicians, patients and families to discuss and really understand a patient’s end -of -life wishes. This may include a discussion on do-necitate (DNR) orders and advanced care planning.
An emergency visit can be a frightening and confusing period for patients and their families, especially in the face of the final stages of life. It is comforting for all those involved to know how to proceed in a way that respects a patient’s desires. This is exactly what our members of the Support Palliative Care and Care Team do. They help remind our caregivers that patient wishes and requests come first.
There is often the temptation to apply all technologies and medical treatments for potentially deadly or fatal diseases and injuries, even if medical science knows that these things are incurable. Support treatments refocus our attention to the really important objective, which consists in extending the patient’s quality of life by making them more comfortable and giving them more time to spend with their loved ones.
Last update: November 5, 2018
