Who Should Get Palliative Care and Why?

Any person diagnosed with a serious illness who is having symptoms should get palliative care. People with complex medical problems, for instance, someone who is diagnosed with and being treated for heart failure, kidney disease, diabetes, or cancer, should get palliative care. These serious illnesses often lead to physical, emotional, spiritual, and social problems that go beyond what the medical team can provide.

Why palliative care is important in cancer care

For cancer patients, it's important to remember that the effects of cancer and its treatment can be very different from person to person. A palliative care team includes a group of specialists who look at each person's situation and work together to help the patient and caregiver with various types of needs. The palliative care team can help by:

• Controlling physical symptoms and side effects
• Managing emotions that come with a cancer diagnosis and treatment
• Showing the family ways to coping with life and family changes
• Understanding any spiritual concerns
• Supporting needs of caregivers
• Assisting with financial, work, and insurance issues
• Helping fill out advance directives and other forms
• Transitioning to hospice care if treatment stops working or if cancer worsens

Palliative care should be offered and be available from the time of diagnosis until it’s no longer needed – at any stage and in any care setting.

Benefits of palliative care

There are many studies that show the benefits of palliative care on the well-being of patients and their families or caregivers. For example, studies have shown that patients who have palliative care visits while in the hospital spend less time in intensive care units and are less likely to visit the emergency room or to be re-admitted to the hospital after they go home. Studies have also shown that people with chronic illnesses, like cancer, who get palliative care have less severe symptoms. They have better quality of life, less pain, less shortness of breath, less depression, and less nausea.

Research has also shown that cancer patients receiving palliative care have better emotional health. This may be because their medical care tends to better align with their values, goals, and preferences. Their families also feel more satisfied with the patient's care.

Some studies have also suggested that starting palliative care soon after a cancer diagnosis may also extend survival.