Are you or a loved one being treated for a critical illness?
Are tedious and painful symptoms from the disease or its
treatment reducing your quality of life?
Does it feel like you're constantly asking your
care team about medication and managing
the pain?
Are the symptoms so overwhelming that relationships with your
family and friends are becoming infrequent and strained?
Do you encounter problems understanding the complexities
of the health care landscape?
These conditions can often be addressed and relieved
through palliative care.
Palliative care can provide support and help
you coordinate care.
In this second video of our education series,
we will help you understand what palliative care is and how
it helps people manage symptoms,
who is involved and importantly how it differs
from hospice care.
Thanks to modern medicine,
some terrible diseases have become preventable,
treatable or far less common.
Breakthrough drugs and technologies have given
physicians new tools to combat serious
conditions and prolong the life expectancy of their patients.
Now, people may spend months or years fighting
a critical illness. As they do,
they can experience painful and debilitating symptoms
from a disease and its treatment.
Coping with these symptoms can be so overwhelming
that it makes it difficult for patients to focus
on anything else in their life. When this situation arises,
a better quality of life can be achieved
through palliative care.
Palliative care, sometimes called comfort care,
minimizes pain and persistent symptoms.
Palliative care is a multidisciplinary
approach that uses highly trained professionals.
While receiving palliative care people can remain under
the care of their regular doctors and still
receive life prolonging medications for their diseases.
What is the difference between
palliative care
and hospice care?
Palliative care is often
confused with hospice, but it's not the same.
The concept of palliative care originated with the hospice
movement in the 1960s. Over time,
as more physicians and other health care
professionals understood its value,
palliative care became an accepted treatment
for patients diagnosed with chronic and severe illness.
Today, both palliative care and hospice care
provide comfort.
Palliative care can begin at diagnosis and can coincide
with treatment for a disease.
Hospice care includes palliative care,
but hospice begins when a patient no longer
seeks to treat their disease and instead focuses on comfort.
How is pain managed?
When it comes to medication,
there are certain drugs that palliative care
physicians commonly prescribe for moderate to severe pain.
A good palliative care team will work with you to help find
the most effective combination and minimize any side effects.
Does palliative care go
beyond physical relief?
The physical problems
of a serious illness
are difficult to manage,
but a serious illness affects more than just the body.
It affects other aspects of a person's life as well
as members of their family.
Sometimes palliative care includes emotional
and social support,
as well as guidance on the practical
issues or spiritual needs.
Who administers palliative care?
Palliative care is offered
by hospitals, home care agencies,
specialized centers or long term care facilities,
but some providers specialize in it.
Depending on the need,
palliative care may be delivered by doctors,
nurses and nurse practitioners, registered dietitians,
social workers,
massage therapists and chaplains.
We've put together
an in-depth article about
palliative care on our website.
If you wish to explore the topic further click
the link in the description.
Now that you've learned about hospice and palliative care,
you're probably wondering who is eligible
for hospice care. To learn more,
please join us for our next video about hospice referrals.
The fact that you exploring palliative
care is a very positive sign.
It means you are exploring how to bring relief to an extremely
ill person and their family.
The philosophy of hospice is to provide support
and care so that people with life limiting
illness may live as fully and comfortably as possible.
Here at Nathan Adelson Hospice we do all we can to make
sure that no one in our care ends the journey of life alone,
afraid or in pain. Thank you.
If you have
additional questions,
feel free to reach out to us or leave a comment below.