What is palliative care?
Palliative care is specialized medical care for people living with serious illnesses. It is a form of team-based care focused on improving someone’s quality of life, offering support and relief for the physical, emotional, social, and even spiritual side effects associated with illness.
As palliative care and hospice are so often confused, Baylor Scott & White recognizes two distinct types of palliative care: supportive palliative care (SPC) and hospice care.
The difference between palliative care and hospice
Distinguishing the two types of palliative care is important. While both types of care are team-based services focused on improving quality of life for patients and their families, supportive palliative care can be provided alongside curative treatments, such as chemotherapy.
This supportive type of palliative care may be provided for many months (and sometimes even years) if people are referred early. Early referral has been shown to improve survival in some types of illnesses, including Stage IV cancers that have spread, known as metastatic cancers. Supportive palliative care may be provided in the clinic, in the community or the hospital.
Hospice requires that people discontinue treatments intended to prolong their lives. Even though hospice care can be available for the last six months of someone’s life, it is often not accessed until the final few months or weeks of life. Most hospice care is provided in someone’s home or a nursing home.
What services are provided by palliative care?
Palliative care (supportive or hospice) works in coordination with your primary treatment team to improve communication and coordination of care along with other important tasks, including:
- Complex symptom management, such as pain, shortness of breath, anxiety, loss of appetite and fatigue
- Prognostication, the process of predicting the likely course of a condition
- Advanced care planning
Who provides palliative care?
Your core SPC team at Baylor Scott & White can consist of the following key disciplines:
- Physicians
- Advance practice nurses or physician assistants
- Social workers
- Chaplains
- Child life specialists
Together, your SPC team works with you, your primary treatment team and your loved ones to ensure that you receive the best possible care and support, addressing all aspects of your physical, emotional and practical needs.
Where can I receive palliative care?
Palliative care can be provided in different locations based on your needs, ensuring you receive the right care in the most convenient setting, which may include:
- At home
- Hospitals
- Outpatient clinics
- Nursing homes
- Assisted living facilities
Why might I need palliative care?
The goal of palliative care, whether the supportive type or hospice type, is to improve the quality of life for people and their families who are facing serious illnesses. Both types of palliative care have been shown to improve discomfort, depression, anxiety, spiritual distress and other burdens of serious illness.
Early supportive palliative care, offered alongside treatments aimed at slowing or reversing serious illness, has been linked to improved survival, particularly in people with metastatic cancer. The American Society of Clinical Oncology recommends that people with Stage IV cancer begin receiving palliative care services within eight weeks of their diagnosis.
What does palliative care provide?
Palliative care focuses on improving the physical, emotional, social and spiritual symptoms associated with advanced illness. The services support both the person living with the condition, as well as their family and loved ones.
Supportive palliative care can benefit everyone involved in your care. Research has shown that people who receive supportive palliative care experience more overall satisfaction with their care and lower rates of depression and anxiety.
Palliative care can also help you plan for the future. Your team can assist with advance directives that allow you to specify your wishes if you are ever unable to speak for yourself.