Patients in their final weeks or months of life can turn to hospice care to manage their transition.
But until then, patients have another option to help them live with serious illnesses.
KERA’s Sam Baker discusses palliative care with Dr. Jane Mwangi, a palliative care advanced practice provider at Parkland Health.
Both of them do the same thing — improving the quality of life for the patient and providing comfort. But palliative care can be provided concurrently with medical treatment and other life-sustaining measures.
Hospice care is mostly for those patients who wish to forgo aggressive treatment and want to concentrate solely on quality of life for whatever time that they have left.
Would it be too simple to say palliative care is about helping people manage illness while they're living, while hospice care is maybe assisting people with transitioning?
You can term it that way because palliative care supports medical care, but that is aimed at optimizing the quality of life. It comes in different realms:
- Physical symptom management
- Social help
- Spiritual help
- Psychosocial support.
You're becoming an extra layer of support for the patient in the family while they go through the journey of having a chronic or serious illness.
If you're going through a serious illness, you are receiving care from your hospital, from your physician. So why the need for palliative care?
The best way palliative care is there to support is with the psychosocial symptoms. These patients go through a lot with the challenges of "H ow do I talk to my children ?" "How do I tell my loved one that I have this chronic illness? " "How do I pay my bills if I'm not able to work full time? "
So, palliative care comes in as that support because it's an interdisciplinary team. We have other people that work with the medical doctor, these nurse practitioners, these social workers, the chaplain.
You are dealing with physical pain , b ut there's also the mental pain. There's also the emotional pain.
Having palliative care to be with you through this journey – not only for you, but also for your family is very important.
I tell my patients that when you're in pain and when you're sick, the family's sick, too. Because think about it: The patient is in the hospital. Their loved one has to forgo going to work and be there with them to support them. That means they’re also sick in one way or another.
So, it's important to embrace the entire picture, and support the patient and their loved ones.
Who pays for this care?
I always tell my patients it's important to clarify with your insurance, but palliative care is covered by most insurances, just like they would cover dermatology care or cardiology care.
Are there some patients doctors would recommend for palliative care and then some similar patients that they would not?
We take anybody with a chronic illness.
The barrier I have seen is the misconception people have about palliative care. The minute they hear the doctor say, “I'm sending you to palliative care,” they're like, "A m I dying? " Because the notion people have is that hospice is palliative care.
The first visit is usually a clarifying moment of letting them know our goal is to improve their quality of life and help navigate the symptoms.
And they can keep with their primary doctor, which is usually amazing. Some of them are like, I thought that when I come to palliative care, I cease to see my primary doctor. I cease to see my oncologist, and I say, we are going to coordinate and manage your care while we go through this journey together - holding hands.
RESOURCES:
What Are Palliative Care and Hospice Care?
What is the Difference between Palliative Care and Hospice Care?
Copyright 2024 KERA