Palliative care is specialized medical care for people living with a serious illness. This type of care is focused on providing relief from the symptoms and stress of the illness. The goal is to improve quality of life for both the patient and the family.
Palliative care is provided by a specially-trained team of doctors, nurses and other specialists who work together with a patient’s other doctors to provide an extra layer of support. Palliative care is based on the needs of the patient, not on the Patient’s prognosis. It is appropriate at any age and at any stage in a serious illness, and it can be provided along with curative treatment.
Palliative care teams focus on quality of life. They treat people suffering from the symptoms and stress of serious illnesses such as:
The goal of Palliative care is to relieve suffering and provide the best possible quality of life for patients and their families. Symptoms may include:
Also Palliative care team will work with the patients to identify and carry out patient’s goals: symptom relief, counselling, spiritual comfort, or whatever enhances patient’s quality of life. Palliative care can also help patient to understand all of their treatment options.
As an experience Palliative care provider, we should obtain below given quality of services for patients:
PALLIATIVE CARE | END-OF-LIFE CARE |
Living with a life-limiting illness with any prognosis | Ongoing medical treatments as appropriate |
Symptom management | Hospice care / Home supports for Elderly |
Maximizing quality of life | Weeks to months to live |
Spiritual healthcare | Symptom management |
Psychosocial support | Spiritual healthcare |
Maximizing community supports | Psychosocial support |
Principles of palliative care