Palliative care specialists are experts in talking about difficult decisions. It is important to understand why a palliative care consultation is beneficial in helping us continue discussing your treatment options in helpful, hopeful ways.
Palliative (pronounced pal-lee-uh-tiv) care is a specialty focused on helping you live life as fully as possible by:
Palliative care is delivered by a team of health care professionals that includes a variety of physicians (including palliative care special ists), nurses,counselors, and therapists. They have special expertise in managing symptoms that don't respond well to usual measures prescribed by oncologists, surgeons, and primary care physicians.
It's never too early-even if you were perfectly healthy-to discuss what you would want if you ever got too ill to say. Advances in supportive care (such as breathing machines and artificial nutrition) can keep people alive while recovery is very, very unlikely-and those treatments can cause suffering. That is why we need to know what you would want us to do.
People sometimes get very sick without warning. During a crisis, it's much more difficult to have these discussions. By talking about these things now, you don't risk getting very sick before you have a chance to tell us what you want (and end up having things done that you don't want done). Once we've had these discussions, you can relax. You can take comfort knowing you've done all you can to maintain as much control as possible, whatever happens... and knowing we will work hard to honor your wishes.
When it comes to your illness, everyone has his or her own desires and worries. Disagreements are common. It's okay to disagree, too, unless others' opinions keep you from making the best decisions for you. One way palliative care can help you is by helping your family.
Regarding your decisions, palliative care specialists help guide your loved ones to:
They help by...
These decisions are difficult because of the uncertainty about the future. We don't want to give up hope of recovery too soon. At the same time, we don't want to hold on to hope too long and then regret having continued treatments that only prolonged suffering with no benefit.
The decisions you're facing today are probably more complicated and emotional than the decisions you've made previously. To determine the best treatment path now, we need to discuss things that are difficult for anyone to talk about - things such as "what-ifs" and "hopes" and "goals of care".
Palliative care specialists are experts in helping people find words for discussing options and determining the best path. They help everyone (you, your loved ones, your doctors and nurses) stay on the same page while making decisions. Most important, palliative care specialists advocate for you, helping you maintain as much control as possible over your care.
No, they do the opposite. They help you determine which hopes can help you live your best life under the circumstances. They also teach you ways to increase your hopefulness-and find hope if you're feeling hopeless.
No. Palliative care specialists push for a treatment plan that respects your hopes and values. They push for whichever treatment path you determine is best for you.
No. This is a common source of confusion. Palliative care is an all inclusive term for care devoted to improving comfort and helping patients live their best possible life. Palliative care is for people of any age with any medical condition, including patients we expect to make a complete recovery. In contrast, hospice is a specialized type of palliative care for people whose life expectancy is 6 months (or less), whether due to chronic disease, sudden illness or injury, or normal aging.
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