Palliative Care Teams and Care Coordinators: Both Provide a Key Disease Partnership
The leading misconception about palliative care — not only among the general public, but also within the the greater healthcare industry — is that it is synonymous with hospice or end-of- life care. Although hospice and end-of- life programs often include similar services, palliative care is not just for the dying. In fact, in many cases it is administered along with curative procedures, with the goal of easing the negative aspects of treatment and recovery.
According to the Center to Advance Palliative Care, "Palliative care is specialized medical care for people with serious illnesses. This type of care is focused on providing patients with relief from the symptoms, pain and stress of a serious illness — whatever the diagnosis. The goal is to improve quality of life for patients and their families. Palliative care is typically provided by a team of doctors, nurses and other specialists who work with a patient's disease-based team of doctors to provide an extra layer of support. Palliative care is appropriate at any age and at any stage in a serious illness, and can be provided together with curative treatment." It addresses the discomfort that comes with serious illnesses across the spectrum, including cancer, Alzheimer’s, congestive heart failure (CHF) and many more.
It is commonplace to assess patients for their palliative needs, as part of a new disease workup. Here at Cordata, we offer our care coordinator users access to the FACIT-Pal: Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy - Palliative Care questionnaire - as a standard assessment. Assessing patients at the onset of a disease allows for a more collaborative process. Moreover, treatment with palliative services can make the recovery process much less of a burden for all involved because it focuses on relieving discomfort from both physical and mental symptoms.
Palliative Care teams strongly resemble care coordination practitioners; they work with the patient to address their personal concerns and guide them through treatment, along with the process of managing their symptoms as they develop. While there is no set outcome for palliative care other than improving quality of life during treatment. Both care coordination and palliative care are centered on the patient’s personal values and goals.
If do not have a palliative care service line in your hospital, I'd think about implementing one. And if you do have organized palliative care, you should make access easy – from high-utilizer, peer services like oncology, CHF and others. For example, some of the top causes of chronic pain (which lead to referrals for palliative care) are:
● Low back pain
● Arthritis, especially osteoarthritis
● Headache
● Multiple sclerosis
● Fibromyalgia
● Nerve damage (neuropathy)
● Cancer
Care coordinators and Care Teams need to be able to quickly & easily engage with a partner palliative care team to ensure their patients have what they need. Even better, proactively integrate palliative services into your disease care teams. I bet the patient satisfaction scores will soar.