| Overall, palliative care is concerned with two areas; | | | 1) | The medical treatment of pain and other distressing symptoms | | | 2) | Assisting patients and families in clarifying their hopes, their fears, and their goals in the face of serious illness. |
Palliative care is often misunderstood as addressing only end-of-life care. In fact, it can help a patient at any stage of serious illness. Palliative care does not necessarily seek to replace curative or restorative treatments, but seeks to complement them, helping patients live as comfortably and as well throughout their illness as possible.
| Some of the benefits of palliative care include: | | | • | Vigorous treatment of pain, nausea, shortness of breath and other symptoms | | | • | Support for patients remaining as active and independent as possible | | | • | Coordination of medical care and transitions to different levels of care | | | • | Counseling and support for patients and family members faced with difficult decisions about care. |
Palliative care features a multidisciplinary approach. The Palliative Care Consultation team at Providence Alaska Medical Center consists of a physician, nurse, and social worker with additional support from the nursing and anesthesiology pain services, medical ethics, spiritual care, case management, home health and other key hospital services. This multidisciplinary model brings healthcare providers with complementary skills into the circle of care for patients and their families, all focusing on improving the quality of life.
While the medical specialty of palliative care has only evolved in the last decade, good medical care has always incorporated the core values of palliative care. Modern palliative care simply focuses on and emphasizes such care in the setting of serious chronic illness and at the end of life. When dealing with a patient approaching the end of life, palliative care does not seek to hasten the dying process, but does seek to relieve the pain and isolation that many people fear may accompany dying, so that the important work of this phase of life --- reconciliation, forgiveness, love --- may be undertaken without distraction. Simply put, the goal --- in all circumstances --- is to relieve suffering.
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