The Complete Guide to Palliative Care

Palliative care is a valuable resource, offering people with chronic illnesses the unique support they need to flourish despite difficult health circumstances.

Defining Palliative Care

Palliative care is an interdisciplinary approach designed to support the complex needs of individuals experiencing chronic medical conditions. Anyone with a chronic health issue, such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, or chronic respiratory disease, can benefit from palliative care. This form of care can coexist with curative treatments and help clients feel fully supported as they navigate their condition and look to enhance their quality of life.

What’s Included in Palliative Care

Palliative care can include a variety of services, depending on the client’s needs. Palliative care teams can assist with:

• Symptom management
• Emotional and psychological support
• Spiritual care
• Social support
• Health education
• Care plans and advanced care planning (ACP)

In addition to providing specialized care and support, palliative care teams play a critical role in coordinating the many aspects of a client’s care. A client’s palliative care director serves as their advocate with doctors and looks at the full scope of their prescriptions and treatments to ensure seamless coordination across all aspects of their care.

Addressing Common Misconceptions

Palliative care is often misunderstood. According to a national survey, just 12.6% of U.S. adults accurately understand palliative care with no misconceptions. It’s important to recognize that:

• Palliative care is different from hospice or end-of-life care. The most common myth that persists about palliative care is that this care is intended for individuals with a terminal diagnosis. In reality, palliative care is for anyone experiencing a chronic medical condition — no matter the stage of their illness. This is the main difference between hospice and palliative care.
• Palliative care goes beyond pain management. Some people associate palliative care with pain management, and for good reason. This can be an important aspect of palliative care, but it’s far from the only one. Clients can also receive emotional and spiritual support and help with navigating their condition and treatment.
• Palliative care can coincide with curative treatments. Hospice is only available for clients who have chosen to discontinue or forgo curative treatments and focus solely on comfort and quality of life. Palliative care, on the other hand, is available alongside curative treatments.

Palliative care teams consist of a variety of members, each with a specialized role in serving the client.

Palliative Care Directors

WesleyLife palliative care teams are led by nurse practitioners who direct and organize all aspects of their client’s care. During the initial visit, a person’s palliative care director will take time to discuss their client’s condition and ask about their client’s goals for palliative care so they can craft an effective care plan.

As licensed clinicians, palliative care directors can work in tandem with a client’s medical team and support them in unique ways. Palliative care directors can coordinate their client’s care, identify and fill in gaps, and connect them to helpful resources. 

Members of the Palliative Care Team

Beyond the care director, palliative care teams can include a variety of members, such as:

• Doctors
• Nurse practitioners
• Nurses
• Social workers
• Nutritionists
• Chaplains and ministers
• Occupational therapists
• At-home services providers
• Volunteers

Family Caregivers

Palliative care teams can also work with family caregivers, helping them understand their loved one’s medical condition and how they can best support them. No matter how much care clients receive from their palliative care team, they can still benefit from the support of their family and friends. 

Palliative care teams can also benefit family caregivers by removing the burden of care coordination. Family members can focus on supporting their loved one rather than expending energy on managing doctors and treatments.

Palliative care services can greatly enhance a person’s quality of life when they are experiencing a chronic medical condition. If a patient is undergoing curative treatments, their doctor(s) may be more focused on outcomes and less focused on maximizing comfort throughout the treatment process. Palliative care professionals make it their mission to enhance patients’ comfort no matter where they are in their health journey.

Managing Physical Symptoms

One way palliative care teams help manage symptoms and enhance quality of life is by minimizing physical pain, discomfort, and unpleasant side effects. Some possible approaches to managing these physical symptoms include:

• Prescribing medications
• Offering advice for at-home symptom management
• Sharing tips for nutrition, exercise, and sleep
• Providing ​​complementary and alternative therapies, such as massage

Supporting the Whole Person

Health conditions and treatments impact patients in ways beyond physical well-being, so palliative care teams also focus on supporting their clients in all the ways that matter to them, including:

• Emotionally
• Mentally
• Spiritually
• Socially

Palliative care defies the idea that a person just needs to “get through this illness” so they can start enjoying life again; palliative care can help clients find joy and meaning every day, even amid difficult circumstances.

Palliative care recipients can benefit from dedicated mental health professionals and spiritual leaders who care about supporting them in ways beyond alleviating physical symptoms.

Palliative care for mental, emotional, and spiritual needs might include:

• Counseling or therapy sessions to help a person navigate the mental and emotional effects of their condition
• Meetings with a social worker to determine a path forward and connect with resources
• Spiritual discussions or prayer with a pastor or other spiritual leader to address issues of faith and help a person feel spiritually supported
• Support groups with others who share a person’s condition or circumstances.
• Visits with family to help them understand their loved one’s condition and how they can best support them

Unlike hospice, palliative care is not exclusive to patients with a short-term prognosis. However, some palliative care patients do have chronic or terminal illnesses and desire to plan for their futures. Palliative care teams can assist with this planning, known as advance care planning (ACP).

Documenting a person’s wishes in advance simplifies decisions related to their future medical treatments and end-of-life processes, should they be unable to make these wishes known at a later time. Even if a person is not in the end-of-life stage, they can work with their palliative care team to discuss their future and to learn about the best ways to prepare now.

Some palliative care recipients eventually transition to hospice care. When both forms of care are received through WesleyLife, this can be a seamless transition that continues to support the client in the ways that make sense for them at each stage.

Palliative care is more accessible than many people realize and can help a wide range of people enhance their quality of life.

Eligibility for Palliative Care 

Many people don’t realize they qualify for palliative care and are missing out on this valuable resource. An estimated 56.8 million people annually need palliative care, and yet, just 14% of these people currently receive palliative care, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

If a person believes they may qualify for palliative care, they should speak with their medical team or a palliative care provider to ask about becoming a client. The WesleyLife palliative care team is happy to speak with potential clients, their medical providers, or their loved ones to help determine whether palliative care would be a good fit.

Insurance Coverage

If a person is a good candidate for palliative care, their insurance policy is likely to cover at least some aspects of their care. Clients with Medicare, for example, enjoy fairly extensive coverage for palliative services, with little to no out-of-pocket costs besides copayments. Whatever insurance policy a client holds, their palliative care team can help ensure their services are covered by insurance wherever possible to minimize costs to the client.

As an organization focused on health and well-being at all stages of adult life, WesleyLife is proud to offer palliative care. We are passionate about the way high-quality palliative care can transform lives.

Here are a few distinctions that characterize our philosophy and approach to palliative care:

• Palliative care at home: Rather than limiting our services to clinical settings, WesleyLife provides palliative care wherever our clients are most comfortable, including in their homes. At-home palliative care can open up new opportunities for connecting with loved ones while providing personalized support tailored to the client’s environment and needs.
• A full continuum of care: As a comprehensive provider of senior living services, WesleyLife offers additional opportunities to serve palliative care recipients. For example, if they would benefit from hospice care or community living, WesleyLife can continue to be a trusted partner.
• Highly qualified providers: WesleyLife palliative care teams are led by nurse practitioners who, as independent clinicians, can prescribe medications and take an active role in their clients’ care. Other team members are passionate professionals with specialized skill sets to offer their clients.
• The WesleyLife mission: Our approach to palliative care is informed by the WesleyLife mission: “Guided by Christian compassion, we support the independence, health, and well-being of older adults wherever they call home.” Our team members live out that mission every day when serving our clients.

Palliative care can be an invaluable means of enhancing a person’s physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being amid difficult health circumstances. If you or a loved one may benefit from palliative care, take a moment to learn more about Palliative Care at Home from WesleyLife.