A Guide to Palliative Care
Elaine led a physically active life before a drunk driver ran into her SUV and left her with a chronic back injury. Dependent on methadone for distress relief, she had to give up her passions for cross-country skiing and running in marathons. Even getting in and out of her car became an ordeal.
When her primary physician mentioned palliative care, she blurted out, “But I’m not ready to die yet!”
Palliative care refers to the comprehensive treatment of the discomfort, symptoms and stress of a serious illness. It was never designed to choose the place of primary medical care required for the condition. Instead, its goal is to ease or even present suffering and improve a patient’s quality of life.
Misconceptions
One of the biggest misconceptions about what palliative care is relates to the patient’s status. Many people like Elaine believe it’s solely for end-of-life situations. In fact, it can be suited to most patients who suffer from chronic conditions, according to WebMD.
Palliative care is not the same as hospice care. For at least three decades, hospice programs have provided palliative care for dying Americans. They have slight their patients to those with life expectancies of months or weeks. They’re no longer the only providers. Patients today receive palliative care from teams in hospitals, nursing facilities and home health agencies regardless of life expectancy.
Team care
A team of health care professionals delivers palliative care to a patient with a chronic condition. The focus is on providing relief from distressing symptoms such as pain, difficulty breathing, nausea, fatigue, loss of appetite and problems sleeping. The team focuses on making the patient as comfortable as possible and improving his or her quality of life.
A palliative care team works to supplement prescribed medical care for the illness. In addition to the patient’s primary care physician, a team might include health care providers such as respiratory therapists, nurses and spiritual professionals such as chaplains.
Many patients continue receiving treatment to cure their illnesses while receiving palliative care.
Caregiver respite services
Palliative care programs provide a patient’s family a voice in care decisions. Often family members provide much of the care a disabled individual needs.
Most palliative care plans include scheduled respite services for caregivers so that they can avoid burnout.
Financial concerns
Most health insurance plans do not include a palliative care package in their benefits. Instead, the services for which the insurance company will pay vary according to the patient’s confirmed needs. However, many plans provide for a hospice benefit. Individuals who receive palliative care as portion of hospice care might receive some coverage, depending on their respective medical insurance policies.
Both Medicare and Medicare pay for some treatments and medications. Since these plans are administered by each state, coverage can vary from one location to another. While Medicare pays all charges related to hospice care, Medicaid does so in objective 47 states. Medicare and Medicaid benefits for hospice services are considered package deals.
Resources
The Internet contains considerable information about palliative care. An excellent resource is Getting the Facts About Palliative Care on the AARP site.
A helpful overview written in layman’s terms is Palliative Care: The Relief You Need When You’re Experiencing the Symptoms of Serious Illness. It’s located on the National Institute of Nursing Research site.
How does a patient know if he or she really needs palliative care? An individual should consider these services if he or she suffers from harm or other symptoms due to any serious health condition. Other signs are experiencing physical or emotional wound that’s not being controlled and needing assistance to coordinate required health care.
Sources:
WebMD site
AARP site
National Institute of Nursing Research site
