What is Palliative Care?

Palliative care is specialized medical care for people with serious illnesses designed to improve their quality of life as well as that of their loved ones. Palliative care is provided by a specially trained team of providers, nurses, and others working together to provide an extra layer of support. This type of care is focused on relieving the symptoms and stress caused by severe illness, helping plot out the future course of the illness and making complex medical problems easier to understand.

One way to think about palliative care is to focus on the words “quality” and “life.” This care is appropriate at any age and at any stage in a serious illness and takes place alongside treatments designed to improve the illness and prevent additional complications. Palliative care should not be considered a luxury and should be considered essential care for each person who needs it. Palliative care includes actions and tools designed to help a patient get back to “close to normal” when they're dealing with a long-term illness and remain independent for as long as possible.

According to the World Health Organization, more than 20 million people worldwide require palliaitive care each year. Cardiovascular diseases, cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases are the most common conditions of patients receiving palliative care, but many other serious illnesses may be supported by palliative care.

A helping hand for patients and caregivers

Serious illness can be overwhelming at times, not only for the patient but also for their loved ones and caregivers. Palliative care helps patients, their families and caregivers navigate what may feel like a complicated web of doctor’s appointments, symptoms, emotions and treatments.

Palliative care specialists assist individuals and their families in identifying their most crucial values, priorities, and objectives for care. They help the person and their family to step back from a mentally difficult and emotionally draining medical situation to look at the big picture. The palliative care team learns what a patient is like as a person, not just as a medical diagnosis, to get a sense of the person's values. This may involve gathering information about a person's work, education, family, friends, social life, hobbies, spirituality, beliefs, aspirations and concerns.

How does palliative care help? 

Palliative care can help ensure that life remains meaningful and fulfilling despite living with a serious illness. Palliative care also recognizes that different patients may have unique priorities and support systems, also known as “goals of care,” – and palliative care respects the importance of creating treatment plans that work for the individual patient given their unique set of circumstances. With this type of care, you will always have a say in what matters most to you throughout your illness.

The World Health Organization sums up the elements of palliative care as: 

• Symptom management: Medication, alternative therapies and tips to help with symptoms like pain, vomiting, breathlessness, anxiety, depression and confusion with an emphasis on prevention as well as treatment.
• Emotional and Spiritual support: Helping patients and their families through the complex emotional challenges of living with a serious illness. Supporting and emotional and spiritual needs, such as feeling a sense of belonging, repairing relationships and searching for meaning.
• Physical care: Looking after the needs of the body, through mobility aids and exercises, for instance.
• Practical help: Support with the day-to-day needs of the patient and their caregivers and family members – for example, guidance with medication management.

Who provides palliative care? 

Palliative care brings together a variety of care providers and takes place in many settings. It does not replace your current care team but adds to it.

Examples of palliative care team members include: 

These team members work along with additional support team roles such as dietitians and occupational therapists to create a circle of medical and palliative care for the patient.

Specialized training to support your needs

While other providers focus on patients’ general health or treating their disease or condition, palliative care providers concentrate on preventing and alleviating suffering and improving quality of life. They work alongside your general physicians and medical team – not in place of them.

Examples of palliative care

What does palliative care look like? Palliative care is defined by “care” and not simply “comfort.” And it may look like:

• Help navigating the healthcare journey – the coordination of care plans across all healthcare settings.
• Guidance and tools for managing appointments and medications, such as medication tracking tools. 
• Management of complex physical and emotional symptoms caused by illnesses and/or their treatments.
• Helping patients with self-care and maintaining their day-to-day goals.
• Assistance communicating sometimes difficult conversations and wishes regarding the future of the patient’s care.

As you can see, the term palliative care covers a broad range of ways to assist the patient and their support team. Palliative Care is often confused with other, more commonly used terms such as “hospice” and “comfort care.” It’s important to understand the differences between these two types of care.