Palliative Care In San Francisco East Bay, California
Palliative care is a term that is frequently used interchangeably with hospice care. While palliative care is sometimes connected with hospice care, its scope is far more significant. In addition, a specific goal of palliative care is to alleviate the symptoms associated with a severe illness while increasing the patient’s quality of life — whether the patient is nearing the end of their life or not.
Suppose you’ve been diagnosed with a terrible, long-lasting disease or a life-threatening illness. In that case, palliative care can significantly improve your quality of life – and the quality of life of those who care for you.
Palliative Care Can Be Provided In Conjunction With The Care Provided By Your Primary Care Physician
Palliative care aims to alleviate pain and other distressing symptoms while also satisfying your emotional, spiritual and practical needs. In a nutshell, palliative care seeks to enhance your quality of life – whichever you define it.
Your palliative care experts will collaborate with you to determine and accomplish your goals, which may include symptom treatment, counseling, spiritual consolation or anything else that improves your quality of life. Additionally, palliative care can assist you in comprehending all of your treatment alternatives.
One of palliative care’s strengths is its recognition of the human aspect of sickness. They expressed the following specific requirements in a 2011 poll of palliative care patients: “being recognized as a person”, “having a choice and being in control”, “being linked to family and the outside world”, “being spiritually connected” and “physical comfort”.
Assure yourself that you can receive palliative care while pursuing a cure for your sickness. You will not be asked to discontinue treatment or hope for a cure. Palliative care may also be a viable choice if you have a severe illness that has resulted in repeated hospitalizations or emergency room visits in the preceding year.
Is palliative care synonymous with death? Not always. Palliative care indeed benefits a significant number of people who are facing life-threatening or terminal illnesses. However, some individuals are cured and no longer require palliative care. Others enter and exit palliative care as necessary.
However, if you decide to discontinue your search for a cure and your doctor believes you are nearing the end of your life, you can enter hospice care. While hospice care is an integral part of palliative care, it is simply a subset of the greater discipline.
If your family members require assistance as well, palliative care can offer emotional and spiritual support, educate them about your condition and assist them in their role as caretakers. In addition, specific palliative care organizations provide in-home help and aid with shopping, meal preparation and respite care, allowing caregivers to take a break.
How do I Obtain Palliative Or Terminal Care?
Consult your primary care physician or another healthcare expert to determine whether palliative or end-of-life care may benefit you and how to obtain it.
If you are a family member or friend of someone unwell, you may be eligible for support. If the ill person is receiving care from a hospice or another local service, you may receive assistance from them as well. Even if the sick person declines palliative or end-of-life care, you can still receive the benefit. Consult your GP, the individual’s GP or another health or social care expert to determine what is available.
Who Is Responsible For Palliative Care?
The professionals involved in your care will vary according to the type of care and assistance you require. Palliative care can be delivered in various settings, including your home, a hospital, a care facility or nursing home or a hospice
Professionals In General Care
As part of their jobs, general health and social care providers provide palliative care to individuals daily. You may encounter these individuals frequently as part of your care:
- Your primary care physician
- Nurses who work in districts or communities
- Workers in social services
- Caregivers
- Specialists in spiritual care.
These practitioners should be consulted as soon as feasible after a diagnosis has been made. They will ascertain your requirements and wishes, as well as those of your family and friends. They may refer you to a specialist if necessary.
Who Is Eligible For Palliative Care?
Palliative care is offered to all patients suffering from a terminal illness, regardless of their age, prognosis, disease stage or treatment preference. However, it is optimal if offered early in the disease and continues throughout with life-prolonging or curative treatments. In other words, patients are not required to choose between curative and palliative care; they may receive both.
Not only does palliative care improve patients’ and families’ quality of life by alleviating mental and physical misery and discomfort but it can also help patients live longer. The better quality of life, appropriate administration of disease-directed medications and early referral to hospice for intensive symptom management and stabilization are likely to be responsible for the increased survival.
Palliative Care & Hospice Care Are Not The Same
While they share the same philosophy, palliative and hospice care are different services. Hospice care is provided to patients nearing the end of their lives. They are at a high risk of dying within the next six months and will no longer benefit from or have opted to forego additional disease-related therapy.
The emphasis shifts away from life-prolonging or curative treatment and toward palliative care. The interdisciplinary team delivers high-quality medical treatment to ensure the patient’s comfort during the dying process and provides bereavement assistance following death.
Hospice care can be offered at a person’s home, an assisted living facility, a long-term care facility, a hospice facility or a hospital. Hospice care does not expedite or prolong death; instead, it maximizes the quality of life throughout the remaining time.
Maximizing Palliative Care Services
If you or a loved one is suffering from a life-threatening illness, ask your general or specialty care physician for a referral to palliative care. If palliative care is unavailable locally, your doctor may discuss your palliative or hospice care needs directly with you.
Utilize this conversation and the resulting services to:
- Assess and handle pressures out of control on a physical, psychological, social or spiritual level.
- Recognize your ailment, its predicted course and available treatment options.
- Examine your hopes, concerns, ambitions and values; the cultural or religious beliefs that influence your care or treatment decisions; the treatments you may or may not choose; and your definition of quality of life.
- Disseminate and document your health care proxy and end-of-life wishes, including any medical interventions you desire or do not desire.
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