Step 9: Understanding Palliative Care & Hospice Services

Understand Palliative Care

The goal of palliative care is to provide comfort by controlling or managing physical, psychological, emotional and spiritual suffering. Palliative care is the total care of patients whose cancer is not responsive to treatment, or targeted care when dangerous complications or discomfort need attention despite the patient's improved condition.

Palliative care can be given anytime along the way. Cancer patients can still be fighting their disease with curative treatments while undergoing palliative care to improve their sense of well-being and quality of life. The same treatments may be given as when cure was the goal-surgery, chemotherapy, radiation. But now these procedures are used to relieve symptoms or prevent complications.

Hospice care on the other hand, is available only in the last six months of life. If a patient rallies or decides to persue treatment, he can leave hospice and return if necessary later on. It can be provided at home or in special hospice facilities. Hospice care involves a team of health professionals, clergy, volunteers and family members who give medical, psychological and spiritual support to terminal patients and their loved ones.

The goal of hospice care is to improve the quality of a patient's last days by offering comfort and dignity. Making these decisions is not easy and you may want to discuss them with a cancer patient advocate.

Your palliative care team

Since palliative care deals with not only the physical aspects of pain but also the emotional, spiritual and psychological aspects, it is important to put together an interdisciplinary team of practitioners. Some hospitals (especially major cancer centers) have palliative care specialists who can coordinate this for you. Most do not. Also, even if a hospital provides these services, you may want to seek out your own practitioners, so that you are receiving care outside the constraints of the managed care hospital environment. Your Cancer Patient Advocate (CPA) can help you choose and assemble your own palliative care team. Either way, your palliative care team can include any or all of the following:

Doctors: Physician, Oncologist, Radiation Oncologist
Pain Management Specialist
Nurses
Psychologists
Home Health Aides
Pharmacists
Chaplains
Physical and Occupational Therapists
Complementary Medicine Practitioners
Complementary Medicine Pharmacists