Palliative Care
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Kinds of Care
Curative Care:
Focuses on a cure to an illness and the prolonging of
life.
Palliative Care:
Focuses on comfort and quality of life that may be
provided with other treatments.
Hospice Care:
Focuses on comfort and quality of life when a cure is
not possible with specialize care and services.
What is Palliative Care?
The World Health Organization describes palliative care as
"an approach that improves the quality of life of patients and
their families facing the problems associated with life-
threatening illness, through the prevention and relief of
suffering by means of early identification and treatment of
pain and other problems, physical, psychosocial and
spiritual."
WHO Definition of Palliative Care
Palliative care:
provides relief from pain and other distressing symptoms;
affirms life and regards dying as a normal process;
intends neither to hasten or postpone death;
integrates the psychological and spiritual aspects of patient
care;
offers a support system to help patients live as actively as
possible until death;
WHO Definition of Palliative Care (cont.)
offers a support system to help the family cope during the
patients illness and in their own bereavement;
uses a team approach to address the needs of patients and
their families, including bereavement counseling, if indicated;
will enhance quality of life, and may also positively influence
the course of illness;
is applicable early in the course of illness, in conjunction with
other therapies that are intended to prolong life, such as
chemotherapy or radiation therapy, and includes those
investigations needed to better understand and manage
distressing clinical complications.
Palliative vs. Hospice Care
Division made between these two terms in the United States
Hospice is a “type” of palliative care for those who are at the
end of their lives.
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http://www.ersj.org.uk/content/32/3/796.full
Who receives Palliative Care?
Individuals struggling with various diseases
Individuals with chronic diseases such as cancer, cardiac
disease, kidney failure, Alzheimer's, HIV/AIDS and
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)
Who Provides Palliative Care?
Usually provided by a team of individuals
Interdisciplinary group of professionals
Team includes experts in multiple fields:
Doctors
Nurses
social workers
massage therapists
Pharmacists
Nutritionists
Volunteers
Physicians
Nurses
Patient
Therapists and Spiritual
Counselors
Family
Home Health
Aides Social Workers
Pharmacists
Multiple Issues Cause Suffering
Disease Management Physical Psychological
•Diagnosis •Pain, dyspnea & other •Anxiety
•Prognostication symptoms •Depression
•Management •Function, fluids, nutrition •Distress
Loss, grief Social
•Emotional responses •Family dynamics
•Bereavement •Financial
•Legal
End of life / death Practical Spiritual
management •Caregiving •Hope
•Last hours of living •Teamwork •Meaning, value
•When death occurs •Volunteers •Existential
Who is Affected
Patients & Families Want…
• Live life the way they want to
‘ Fix ’ disease, or not
Prevent and relieve suffering, or not
Don’t do treatments they don’t want
• Negotiate goals for
1. Life
2. Medical care
What do You
want your illness
experience to be
?
Patterns of Functional Decline at
the End of Life
1 – Organ Failure 2 – Dementia
4 – Sudden
3 – Cancer
Death
Lunney JR et al. JAMA, May 14, 2003—Vol 289, No. 18 2387‐92
Approaches to Palliative Care
Not a “one size fits all approach”
Care is tailored to help the specific needs of the patient
Since palliative care is utilized to help with various diseases,
the care provided must fit the symptoms.
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Palliative Care Patient Support
Services
Three categories of support:
1. Pain management is vital for comfort and to reduce
patients’ distress. Health care professionals and families can
collaborate to identify the sources of pain and relieve them
with drugs and other forms of therapy.
Palliative Care Patient Support
Services
2. Symptom management involves treating symptoms other
than pain such as nausea, weakness, bowel and bladder
problems, mental confusion, fatigue, and difficulty breathing
Palliative Care Patient Support
Services
3. Emotional and spiritual support is important for both
the patient and family in dealing with the emotional demands of
critical illness.
What does Palliative Care Provide to
the Patient?
Helps patients gain the strength and peace of mind to carry
on with daily life
Aid the ability to tolerate medical treatments
Helps patients to better understand their choices for care
What Does Palliative Care Provide
for the Patient’s Family?
Helps families understand the choices available for care
Improves everyday life of patient; reducing the concern of
loved ones
Allows for valuable
support system
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Approaches to Palliative Care
A palliative care team delivers many forms of help to a patient
suffering from a severe illness, including :
Close communication with doctors
Expert management of pain and other symptoms
Help navigating the healthcare system
Guidance with difficult and complex treatment choices
Emotional and spiritual support for the patient and their family
Goals of Palliative Care
Help to
• Eat well € Live better
• Sleep well € Live longer
• Maintain
function “ Add life to days
• Reduce and days to life ”
stress
Benefits of Early Palliative Care
✓ Survival
• Longer
• Better
• Understanding
prognosis
• Goals of care
✓ Less IV chemo in
last 60 days
✓ $ Quality of Life
• Improved mood
How do we get everyone to incorporate
palliative care into practice early ?
What Hospice
and Palliative Medicine
Mean
