Palliative Care

Our Services

Adult Inpatient Consultation - Overview

Overview

Palliative care addresses physical, emotional, social, and spiritual pain to achieve the best possible quality of life for patients and their families. It provides a compassionate, comprehensive team approach for those dealing with a serious illness, regardless of diagnosis, prognosis, or treatment. Within its first two years, the Palliative Care Consultation Service has cared for over 600 hospitalized patients. A more formal outpatient consultation service is currently being developed. Services are delivered in collaboration and close communication with the patient, family, physicians, and health care team. All share the common goal of providing compassion, support, and comfort to the patient. The Palliative Care team works in collaboration with the patient's main treating physician who is still responsible for all major decisions along with the patient and their family.

Eligibility

All adult and pediatric patients with a serious, complex, or life-threatening illness are eligible to receive palliative care. For most patients, palliative care complements the active treatments they receive for their underlying illness.

Requests for Palliative Care

A patient, family member, or any health care professional working with the patient may ask the physician responsible for the patient’s care in the hospital to request a consultation. Patients and those caring for them often welcome the support and strength that a consultation provides.

Some of the reasons for requesting a consultation include a need to better address:

• Pain and severe discomfort requiring symptom management
• Assistance in addressing psychosocial, emotional, and/or spiritual issues
• Counseling and guidance about treatment options
• Clarification of goals of care
• Assistance in developing a discharge plan
• Loss and bereavement support

Learn More About Palliative Care

• Goals of palliative care
• Comparing palliative care and hospice

Current Patients

• Do you have a friend or family member who has been admitted to one of the hospitals at Strong Health? Now, you can send them an email. Volunteers will print out and hand deliver messages directly to patients' rooms.