What is Palliative Care?
Palliative care provides patients with specialized medical care for relief of pain from and symptoms of a serious or advanced illness. It allows the patient to continue living life to the fullest extent possible for the longest time possible. It also permits the patient to stay out of the dependent, sick role and continue the role as a family member. Palliative care allows us to manage symptoms and attend to the patient’s mental, spiritual and social needs. The type of preparation and support that only palliative care can provide lets us help families grieve and learn to go on without their loved one.
Palliative practices should be integrated into the traditional management of disease and not just reserved for terminal illnesses. Palliative care can help symptomatic patients improve quality of life and provide care options that focus on comfort versus cure in a disease that is no longer curable.
Palliative Care and End of Life Care
End of life situations should not be perceived as a test of spiritual and psychological character. Palliative care should be considered an extension of care to all patients and begin prior to the end of life stage.
Palliative care, supportive care, end of life care and hospice care are terms that are frequently used interchangeably. Yet, hospice care and end of life care are different from the others and always a part of palliative care.
The History of Palliative Care
In 1958, Cicely Saunders from the United Kingdom and John Bonica from the United States simultaneously participated in separate studies of patients living with and dying from advanced diseases. Their collaborative studies took place at St. Christopher’s Hospice in the United Kingdom and the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in the United States. The research became the cornerstone in the foundation of the first World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines on cancer care management in 1982. Now, palliative medicine has been formally recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialties and fellowship programs are being implemented as part of training palliative specialists.
Work With Us!
The Texas Palliative Center adheres to high standards of professional ethics. We provide equal opportunity in employment regardless of race, color, age, sex, religion, national origin, disability or any other condition or status protected by law. The Texas Palliative Center is a drug free company and therefore all employees are subject to pre-employment and random drug testing. All possible employees must be clear of any criminal charges.
24 hour admission services available. Call us today (915) 543-6060.
Our agency is licensed by the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services, certified by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and accredited to higher standards by The Joint Commission.
