Palliative care is an important, yet often misunderstood field of medical care. If you’re currently playing the critical role of caregiver, you might want to familiarize yourself with this specialty, and decide if it’s a good fit for both you and your loved one.
Palliative care involves a specialized, team-based approach to medical and nursing care for people with serious illnesses. It is focused on relieving pain and other symptoms at any stage of a condition.
Palliative care is often confused with hospice care, but hospice care is actually a specialty within the palliative care field. Palliative care in general can be a helpful addition to your loved one’s care team at any stage of illness—and any prognosis. It’s particularly helpful for anyone who’s been diagnosed with a serious illness, such as cancer, congestive heart failure, or a neurological disorder like Parkinson’s, as well as those who experience symptoms that interfere with quality of life.
Annette Nijjar, M.D., a palliative care physician at the University of Minnesota Medical School, calls palliative care a “big-picture specialty” that emphasizes taking care of a patient beyond their disease. For example, palliative care teams often include nurses, physician assistants, social workers (who have a lot of experience providing psychological support for processing and coping with illness), as well as spiritual support.
Having a palliative care team can also ease caregiver stress by giving you regular access to experts who can help you sift through the many personal and medical decisions you may have to make for your loved one. Essentially, palliative care teams provide whatever help you and your loved one may need, whether that’s deciphering medical terms, deciding on the best treatment options, or connecting you with health experts. Eventually, the palliative care team might help with the transition to hospice care.