Palliative Care Program Helps Patients Suffering with Serious Illness

November is National Hospice and Palliative Care Month, a time to acknowledge those who suffer from serious illness and receive end-of-life care, and the families and loved ones who care for them.

People sometimes confuse palliative care with hospice care, since they both provide services to the seriously ill. Palliative care patients are provided with curative medical treatment that isn’t limited to a specific time frame or diagnosis. Palliative care helps patients manage symptoms for a variety of illnesses for as long as possible. Hospice provides comfort mostly at the end of life.

Washington Health provides a Palliative Care Program that includes a wide range of services and coordination of care. Krishna Suri, DO, a board certified internal medicine doctor, takes a special interest in palliative care. “Palliative care aims to be a resource providing quality symptom management and adept guidance of care,” he emphasizes.

The hospital’s Palliative Care Team (consisting of doctors, nurses, social workers, nurse practitioners, spiritual care coordinator, and other specialists) works with patients’ primary care providers to assess their needs and develop a plan of care, according to Dr. Suri.

How Palliative Care Helps

The program includes helping patients and families:

• Navigate the health care system
• Identify goals of care
• Address complex symptoms and difficult treatment choices
• Ensure that preferences for medical care match goals and values
• Receive psychosocial, emotional and spiritual support
• Anticipate and plan next steps as a disease progresses

Working with a team that understands the needs of those suffering with serious illness can help foster communication, encouraging families to discuss important issues and, if needed, arrange for counseling. Discussions often include complex pain, depression, anxiety, fatigue, shortness of breath, constipation, nausea, loss of appetite, and difficulty sleeping.

“My philosophy of care has always been, ‘Care does not end at the prescription,’” Dr. Suri explains. He likes to spend time with his patients and their families to understand their comprehensive needs and support systems. “Getting to know my patients and their loved ones is what drives me,” he says.

Who the Program Helps

“Palliative care isn’t just for cancer patients, as many people sometimes believe,” Dr. Suri notes. In addition to cancer, the program can help a wide variety of patients, including those suffering from:

• Congestive heart failure
• Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
• Kidney failure (end-stage renal disease)
• Dementia
• And other chronic illnesses

Living with serious illness can be debilitating and overwhelming for patients and families. The Palliative Care Team can provide an extra layer of support to relieve stress by providing psychosocial, emotional, and spiritual support for patients and families.

According to the National Hospital and Palliative Care Association, studies show that palliative care significantly improves patients’ quality of life. It can ease the burden on families, and make a patient’s experience with a health care system less stressful and traumatic.

Each year an estimated 56.8 million people, including 25.7 million in the last year of life, need palliative care, according to the World Health Organization, yet only about 14% receive it. Dr. Suri concludes, “As their health care needs evolve, families need relevant patient-centered guidance to navigate transitions in care that are unique to their values and preferences.”

How to Get Palliative Care

To request services from the Palliative Care Program, a patient or family member should ask their physician for a referral. The Washington Palliative Care Team can offer support to patients and their families 365 days a year, both during their stay and after discharge. For more information on Washington Health’s Palliative Care Department, see washingtonhealth.com/PalliativeCare

November is National Hospice and Palliative Care Month, a time to acknowledge those who suffer from serious illness and receive end-of-life care, and the families and loved ones who care for them.

People sometimes confuse palliative care with hospice care, since they both provide services to the seriously ill. Palliative care patients are provided with curative medical treatment that isn’t limited to a specific time frame or diagnosis. Palliative care helps patients manage symptoms for a variety of illnesses for as long as possible. Hospice provides comfort mostly at the end of life.

Washington Health provides a Palliative Care Program that includes a wide range of services and coordination of care. Krishna Suri, DO, a board certified internal medicine doctor, takes a special interest in palliative care. “Palliative care aims to be a resource providing quality symptom management and adept guidance of care,” he emphasizes.

The hospital’s Palliative Care Team (consisting of doctors, nurses, social workers, nurse practitioners, spiritual care coordinator, and other specialists) works with patients’ primary care providers to assess their needs and develop a plan of care, according to Dr. Suri.

How Palliative Care Helps

The program includes helping patients and families:

• Navigate the health care system
• Identify goals of care
• Address complex symptoms and difficult treatment choices
• Ensure that preferences for medical care match goals and values
• Receive psychosocial, emotional and spiritual support
• Anticipate and plan next steps as a disease progresses

Working with a team that understands the needs of those suffering with serious illness can help foster communication, encouraging families to discuss important issues and, if needed, arrange for counseling. Discussions often include complex pain, depression, anxiety, fatigue, shortness of breath, constipation, nausea, loss of appetite, and difficulty sleeping.

“My philosophy of care has always been, ‘Care does not end at the prescription,’” Dr. Suri explains. He likes to spend time with his patients and their families to understand their comprehensive needs and support systems. “Getting to know my patients and their loved ones is what drives me,” he says.

Who the Program Helps

“Palliative care isn’t just for cancer patients, as many people sometimes believe,” Dr. Suri notes. In addition to cancer, the program can help a wide variety of patients, including those suffering from:

• Congestive heart failure
• Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
• Kidney failure (end-stage renal disease)
• Dementia
• And other chronic illnesses

Living with serious illness can be debilitating and overwhelming for patients and families. The Palliative Care Team can provide an extra layer of support to relieve stress by providing psychosocial, emotional, and spiritual support for patients and families.

According to the National Hospital and Palliative Care Association, studies show that palliative care significantly improves patients’ quality of life. It can ease the burden on families, and make a patient’s experience with a health care system less stressful and traumatic.

Each year an estimated 56.8 million people, including 25.7 million in the last year of life, need palliative care, according to the World Health Organization, yet only about 14% receive it. Dr. Suri concludes, “As their health care needs evolve, families need relevant patient-centered guidance to navigate transitions in care that are unique to their values and preferences.”

How to Get Palliative Care

To request services from the Palliative Care Program, a patient or family member should ask their physician for a referral. The Washington Palliative Care Team can offer support to patients and their families 365 days a year, both during their stay and after discharge. For more information on Washington Health’s Palliative Care Department, see washingtonhealth.com/PalliativeCare