palliative health care

If you or someone you love is living with a serious illness, consider bringing in a palliative health care team to help you navigate the confusing health care system.

Support system: A palliative health care team helps patients manage pain and navigate the health care system.

THE DETAILS: By definition, palliative health care means relieving or soothing the symptoms of a disease or disorder. People of any age living with a curable, chronic, or life-threatening disease can seek palliative care while still undergoing their regular treatments with other doctors. One component of palliative health care involves hospice, a service typically aimed at providing good quality of life for someone living with an incurable disease. But other branches of the specialty are geared toward relieving pain, anxiety, and other side effects, so that patients can better recover from an illness.

In fact, that's exactly what the service did for Titus after she became ill with a serious infection due to complications of her cancer treatment. "When doctors can't control the pain, you can't get down to what's really the problem," she says. About a month after going into remission, she suffered excruciating pain for three months before she was transferred to the palliative care floor of the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio. Admittedly, she wasn't exactly sure what that meant at first. "But they took the reins there—patient counseling, family meetings to keep everybody on the same page—the communication was fantastic," she recalls. The palliative health care team also made sure her doctors communicated with each other. "You don't want to have to explain yourself over and over when you're in a situation like that," Titus notes.

WHAT IT MEANS: Many people being treated for serious conditions like cancer, heart, lung, or kidney disease, or dementia can benefit from a palliative care team that will help manage pain symptoms, help the patient navigate the healthcare system and choose treatment options; find complementary therapies like music therapy, acupuncture, physical therapy, or massage therapy; and provide emotional and spiritual support for the patient and families. Palliative care is meant to fill the healthcare gaps that make serious medical problems even more difficult, says Sean Morrison, MD, director of the National Palliative Care Research Center and incoming president of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. "It's about needs that aren't typically met by current physicians and the healthcare system."

Palliative health care can be provided at a hospital, nursing home, assisted-living facility, or at home. The team generally includes a doctor, nurses, and, sometimes, social workers. "The current healthcare industry is terribly fragmented," explains Dr. Morrison. "An American living at home with a serious illness requires someone to put together all the pieces, the physicians, nursing care, social workers, meals, and transportation." And, good news: Palliative care is generally covered by health insurance, though you may need a referral. For more information about palliative care, visit palliativedoctors.org or AAHPM.org.