For those suffering from a serious disease, palliative care, also known as “supportive care,” attempts to enhance their quality of life. Palliative care is available to anyone with a severe illness, no matter their prognosis, age, or treatment choice. It is best provided early and often, along with life-saving or curative treatments. In palliative care, the emphasis is on pain and symptom management and advanced care planning, treatment navigation, and comfort measures that improve the patient's quality of life as much as possible.
While palliative care helps patients and their families live better lives by alleviating emotional and physical suffering and discomfort, it also has the potential to help patients live longer lives. The increased longevity is attributed to a better quality of life, timely disease-directed therapy, and early referral to hospice for symptom control and stabilization.
People often confuse palliative care with hospice. Palliative and hospice care are two different services, even though their overall philosophy is the same. Palliative care is for people at any stage of their illness, while hospice care is for people who have six months or less to live.
Palliative care is a multidisciplinary approach that addresses a severe disease's medical, psychological, social, and spiritual aspects. This can include a team of doctors, nurses, and social workers who also offer support to the patient's family.
Palliative care looks different for every patient. For a cancer patient, the team works with oncologists to help them deal with chemotherapy's side effects or recuperate after surgery. Depression and anxiety medications and tools to help family members plan for the next few months or years are often part of cancer palliative care.
People who have cardiovascular disease may benefit from palliative care. It aids with symptom alleviation, social isolation, financial stress, and decision-making for patients and their families. It may also involve assistance with end-of-life planning.
In the case of a patient with dementia, the care team uses community services like home health aides or visiting nurses to alleviate the family's stress and offer respite care for those with dementia. As the condition worsens, it may be necessary to assist family members with tough choices regarding feeding and care.
Incorporating palliative care's medical, emotional, and spiritual components has many advantages that patients may not be aware of. It puts the patient, their objectives, and their wishes first, which helps them understand treatment approaches. Palliative care thereby minimizes the chance of aggressive and unnecessary therapy. In addition, it helps the family deal with the stress they often feel and offers additional assistance when required.
There is a prevalent misconception that palliative care is only available for advanced or terminal illnesses. Several studies show that palliative treatment is most beneficial when initiated early - preferably immediately after the patient has been diagnosed.
A 2017 study found that early palliative care reduces the risk of depression among persons who are newly diagnosed with terminal cancer. Other research, conducted in 2020, discovered that individuals with Parkinson's disease and associated diseases who received palliative care had a greater quality of life than those who received standard therapy by a factor of three.
Many people think that palliative care only happens in hospitals, but home or community-based care options are available. Home-based palliative care retains the participation of the multidisciplinary members of the care team, but the treatment is provided in the patient's residence instead of the hospital.
While palliative care helps patients and their families live better lives by alleviating emotional and physical suffering and discomfort, it also has the potential to help patients live longer lives. The increased longevity is attributed to a better quality of life, timely disease-directed therapy, and early referral to hospice for symptom control and stabilization.
People often confuse palliative care with hospice. Palliative and hospice care are two different services, even though their overall philosophy is the same. Palliative care is for people at any stage of their illness, while hospice care is for people who have six months or less to live.
Palliative care is a multidisciplinary approach that addresses a severe disease's medical, psychological, social, and spiritual aspects. This can include a team of doctors, nurses, and social workers who also offer support to the patient's family.
Palliative care looks different for every patient. For a cancer patient, the team works with oncologists to help them deal with chemotherapy's side effects or recuperate after surgery. Depression and anxiety medications and tools to help family members plan for the next few months or years are often part of cancer palliative care.
People who have cardiovascular disease may benefit from palliative care. It aids with symptom alleviation, social isolation, financial stress, and decision-making for patients and their families. It may also involve assistance with end-of-life planning.
In the case of a patient with dementia, the care team uses community services like home health aides or visiting nurses to alleviate the family's stress and offer respite care for those with dementia. As the condition worsens, it may be necessary to assist family members with tough choices regarding feeding and care.
Incorporating palliative care's medical, emotional, and spiritual components has many advantages that patients may not be aware of. It puts the patient, their objectives, and their wishes first, which helps them understand treatment approaches. Palliative care thereby minimizes the chance of aggressive and unnecessary therapy. In addition, it helps the family deal with the stress they often feel and offers additional assistance when required.
There is a prevalent misconception that palliative care is only available for advanced or terminal illnesses. Several studies show that palliative treatment is most beneficial when initiated early - preferably immediately after the patient has been diagnosed.
A 2017 study found that early palliative care reduces the risk of depression among persons who are newly diagnosed with terminal cancer. Other research, conducted in 2020, discovered that individuals with Parkinson's disease and associated diseases who received palliative care had a greater quality of life than those who received standard therapy by a factor of three.
Many people think that palliative care only happens in hospitals, but home or community-based care options are available. Home-based palliative care retains the participation of the multidisciplinary members of the care team, but the treatment is provided in the patient's residence instead of the hospital.
