Hancock Regional Hospital’s Palliative Care Program is here to support patients with serious, chronic or life-limiting illness. It is common to be confused about the difference between palliative care and hospice. We asked Advanced Nurse Practitioner, Joy Howard, DNP, RN, AGCNS-BC, ACHPN, to help us demystify what palliative care is and what it can do for those suffering from one or more serious illnesses. 

While hospice patients are no longer seeking disease-targeted treatment, palliative care patients may be. In fact, hospice is simply a TYPE of palliative care in which curative options are either no longer possible or the patient has chosen to no longer seek curative intended medical treatment. Those who choose to enroll in hospice have done so to focus on comfort. Palliative care is supportive care for individuals with serious, chronic or life-limiting illnesses and can help with symptom management, goals of care discussions and advanced care planning. 

Unlike in hospice, in which a patient forgoes disease-targeted treatment and relies almost solely on their hospice team for care management, receiving palliative care doesn’t mean you aren’t also being treated by other providers. In fact, palliative care team members work collaboratively with the patient’s doctors but do not replace them. 

Pain is generally not just physical. Palliative care practices using the concept of “total pain” in which pain is seen as a multi-dimensional symptom. Most individuals with serious or chronic illness may experience social, spiritual and psychological pain alongside physical pain. Palliative care addresses each of these dimensions of pain to help the patient improve their quality of life whether their goal is curative intent, treatment or comfort. 

“Palliative care services can be beneficial to anyone with a serious, chronic, or life limiting illness that has complicated symptoms and complex needs. It is not limited to cancer patients. Many individuals may have several illnesses that make symptom management more challenging and decrease their quality of life.” 

To accept palliative care does not mean you are at the end of your life’s journey. Some patients who are newly diagnosed turn to palliative care to help with symptoms and adjusting to life with an illness. Others may be in the middle of treatments such as radiation, chemotherapy or surgeries and rely on palliative care to help with side effects and the emotional toll that illness can take. Some patients who are ill for years with COPD and Congestive Heart Failure rely on their palliative care team to help them manage their quality of life for the length of their illness.” 

If you or someone you love is suffering from a serious or chronic illness and you would like to explore Hancock Health’s Palliative Care Program more thoroughly, you can head to HancockHealth.org or contact the palliative care department at 317-325-2727. You can also talk to your provider about whether a palliative care consult may be beneficial.