Palliative Care
What is palliative care?
Palliative care is focused on improving the overall wellness of people with serious illnesses. It addresses both the symptoms and the stress of living with a chronic illness. It may also involve support for loved ones or caregivers.
Since it’s based on individual needs, palliative care can be quite different from one person to the next.
A care plan might involve one or more of the following goals:
- alleviating symptoms, including side effects of treatment
- improving understanding of illness and its progression
- identifying and addressing practical and spiritual needs
- helping to cope with feelings and changes related to illness
- assisting in understanding treatment options, making treatment decisions, and coordinating care
- identifying and accessing additional resources to provide support
What are the benefits of palliative care?
- Symptom management support. Palliative care specialists may help people with symptom management and pain management, according to a 2017 reviewTrusted Source on people living with advanced cancer.
- Improved quality of life. According to a 2020 study Trusted Source of people with Parkinson’s disease and related disorders, those who received palliative care scored their quality of life as three points higher than those with traditional treatment.
- Reduced risk of depression. Early palliative care is associated with a lower risk of depression in people newly diagnosed with advanced cancer, according to a 2017 review Trusted Source of research.
- Longer survival. The same review suggests that depression and mortality may be linked, which may mean longer Trusted Source survival in people with advanced cancer who receive palliative care.
- Support in making decisions. Palliative care specialists provide support to people diagnosed with a serious illness and their families in order to make decisions about care, treatment for their illness, and support in emotionally coping with the diagnosis.
- Support for family members and caregivers. Palliative care can include instructional guidance and emotional support for family members caring for a loved one with a serious illness.
- Improved caregiver satisfaction. According to a 2016 review Trusted Source, palliative care consistently improves both patient and caregiver satisfaction.
When to consider palliative care?
If you have a serious or life threatening illness, you can ask about palliative care at any time.
There’s a common misconception that you have to wait until your illness is in a later stage or terminal to get palliative care. In fact, a number of studies suggest that palliative care is most effective when started early, closer to diagnosis.
A 2018 review Trusted Source of people with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) recommended early use of palliative care, which improves both quality of life and overall survival.
Similarly, a 2018 meta-analysis found that people with advanced cancer lived longer and enjoyed a better quality of life when they received outpatient palliative care.
Palliative care has also been shown to reduce depression and other mental health conditions. The authors of a 2017 studyTrusted Source found that people with advanced cancer who also had symptoms of depression benefitted the most from starting palliative care early.
Your loved ones are also likely to benefit if you receive palliative care, which can help them access resources and support to cope with your illness.
Palliative care examples:
Palliative care can be an option for many conditions. Some of the most common conditions where palliative care can be especially helpful are:
- cancer
- cardiovascular diseases
- dementia
- chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
Can you get palliative care at home?
It depends on where you live. Palliative care has become more accessible in recent years, but it’s still not available everywhere.
Depending on where you live, you might have more than one option as to where you can receive palliative care. Some options may include:
- a hospital
- a nursing home
- an assisted living facility
- an outpatient clinic
- your home
Talk with your doctor to find out more about the palliative care options that are available to you and where you can receive care in your area.