What you should know about Palliative Care

Palliative care encompasses a kind of "whole-person" care for patients faced with serious illness.

Unlike traditional hospice care, which is available to patients expected to live no more than six months and typically requires them to forgo curative treatment, palliative care can be offered alongside regular care, and can start much sooner.

Focusing on pain and symptom management and emotional and spiritual needs, it also helps them discuss their illness with family members and supports them as they decide what treatment, if any, to pursue.

The benefits are robust. Adding palliative care not only improves quality of life but can lengthen life as well, according to a study published in the August edition of the New England Journal of Medicine.

In this study, patients with newly diagnosed advanced lung cancer who received palliative care scored significantly higher on quality of life measures, experienced less depression, and lived longer than those who just received treatment for the illness.

Because palliative care is a specialty, it is crucial that providers be "Board Certified" in palliative care by the American Board of Medical Specialties, indicating their level of knowledge and training. To determine if a physician is certified, go to www.abms.org.