Defining Palliative Care
Barely half the hospitals in the USA have palliative care programs.
If you aren’t sure what palliative care is, that’s part of the problem.
Palliative care is a care program that includes management of pain and other debilitating symptoms and increased communication and care coordination between physician and family. Palliative care increases the quality of life for patients with complex prognoses . . . Greater palliative care has been linked to lower death rates, fewer intensive care admissions during a patient’s final months, and lower overall expense per patient.
The statistics speak, and palliative care has been increasing around the nation, but it is still almost unavailable in many rural hospitals and the south. The trend is upward, but the problem is still widespread.
The best way to receive palliative care is via hospice care, delivered in specialized institutions, such as nursing or assisted living facilities. Such facilities are smaller, more specialized, and less hectic than hospitals, permitting them greater latitude in customizing the service their patients receive.
Palliative care utilizes a broad range of services for one goal: relieve suffering and increase quality of life. When paired with standard medical treatment, the results is a more comfortable treatment and faster recovery.
