In This Video You Will Learn:

How Palliative Care Can Help People With Serious Illness and Their Medical Decision Makers.

Palliative Care

Palliative Care is a specialized medical service.

The goal of Palliative Care is to help people with serious illness live as well as possible for as long as possible.

The Palliative Care Team

Palliative Care medical providers have special training to provide an extra layer of support for people at any age being treated for any type of serious illness.

The Palliative Care Team

The team may include doctors, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, nurses, social workers, chaplains, psychologists, case managers, and other providers.

They often work in hospitals and clinics.

And, the service is paid for by insurance.

For example:

The team may work with adults or children who are getting treatments that may cure their serious illness.

And, they may also work with people who are being treated for a serious illness that does not have a cure and who may be nearing the end of life.

The team treats pain and other symptoms at the same time people may be getting other medical care to treat their serious illness.

The team also helps people decide on the medical care that is right for them.

They support both patients and caregivers when making medical decisions.

And, they help people who want to make decisions together as a family.

The team can also help patients and families:

• Make sense of all the medical information

• Talk with other medical providers to get the care that is right for them

• And, talk with one another, including when families may not agree

People May Choose Palliative Care:

• If they have serious illness and need help to treat pain and other symptoms, such as nausea

• If they or their medical decision makers need support making medical decisions such as for tests, medicines, and procedures

• And, if families do not agree and need extra support

Palliative Care is Not the Same As Hospice.

They are separate services.

They have separate medical providers.

And they have different treatment goals.

Hospice

Hospice is only for care in the last 6 months of life.

It is focused on comfort rather than cure.

People on hospice have often stopped medical treatments to cure or treat their serious illness.

They often get hospice at home or a nursing home.

To Learn More About How Palliative Care Can Help talk to the medical care team, including social workers and case managers.

They can explain more and refer you to Palliative Care.

In This Video You Learned:

How Palliative Care Can Help People with Serious Illness and Their Medical Decision Makers