4 Facts About Palliative Care
4 Facts About Palliative Care:
And How it Differs from Hospice Care
Modern palliative care, sometimes called “supportive care”, provides much more to ailing individuals than it did in the past, when the most one could hope for was to be made comfortable while dying. Today, palliative care provides a host of care from the relief of symptoms, pain and stress of a serious illness, to improving the quality of life for both the patient and their family. Palliative care promises to offer comfort and choice, and respects patient’s values and wishes. It cares for not only the individual patient, but the whole family.
Palliative care is different from hospice care.
Hospice care is for patients who have determined that cure is no longer an option and have chosen not to pursue aggressive treatment. Palliative care is useful for any stage of serious illness, including those in active treatment and can even help extend life.
But what exactly is it? Here are 4 facts:
-
Palliative care is specialized medical care
Just as doctors, nurses, and other health care providers have to study specific areas of care, like heart care for cardiology, for example, there are those who choose to study palliative care. There are certification processes for clinicians. Every health care provider needs to understand the basics of palliative care, just like they need to know the basics of cardiology, and there are those who are able to manage more challenging or complex problems.
-
Palliative care is for patients with serious illness
This is important in what it does not say: palliative care is not just for patients who are dying. Hospice is for patients at the end of life (six months or less, in general). Palliative care patients could have a long life ahead of them, or they could be near the end of life. In a very real sense, hospice is a form of palliative care for patients who are at the end stage of an illness. Anyone with a serious illness might benefit from palliative care.
-
Palliative care focuses on providing relief
One of the biggest benefits of palliative care is that it focuses on making patients and families feel better. Traditionally, doctors work on the problem, whatever that may be. While that is important, sometimes it happens without much attention to pain, suffering, or impact that a serious illness can have, both on the patient and their family. Palliative care may not be able to take away all the symptoms, but they can help them be manageable.
-
Palliative care can help no matter what the diagnosis
Palliative care is not just for cancer. It’s for chronic lung disease, neurologic conditions, heart disease, congenital diseases, and many others. Since the focus is on symptoms, pain, stress, etc., and those come with any illness, the diagnosis is not the determining factor. Palliative care can help.
Alternatives for Seniors is a print and online directory that specifically caters to the housing and personal care concerns of senior citizens and their families. Call our Senior Specialists at (888) WE-ASSIST (888-932-7747) or visit the Alternatives for Seniors website to begin searching for the perfect home for you or your loved ones.
Also, be sure to join our Facebook community and follow us on Twitter and Pinterest.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
BLOG Date: Thursday, April 14, 2016
Writer: Ryan Allen