What Is Palliative Care and Why Is It Important?

Do you know what palliative care is? 40 million people each year require palliative care, but not many people actually know very much about it.

Let’s go through what palliative care is and why it’s important.

What is Palliative Care?

Palliative care is care for people who are struggling with a serious, advanced illness. We usually think of palliative care as care for people who are imminently dying, but they’re not the only people who use palliative care. While end-of-life care and terminal care are included under the umbrella of palliative care, it’s misinformed to use the terms interchangeably.

Unlike other forms of treatment, palliative care doesn’t treat the underlying illness. Instead, palliative care addresses symptoms that may be bothersome or painful, so that the patient is more comfortable. Palliative care improves the quality of life for a patient and their family.

Palliative care isn’t just limited to doctors — social workers, religious figures, nurses, behavioral specialists, pharmacists, and the like can all be involved with your palliative care treatment plan.

Home healthcare options can be confusing, so make sure you look into the differences between palliative care and hospice care.

Conditions That Require Palliative Care

There are a variety of different illnesses that may result in a person needing palliative care. Some of them include the following:

• Different types of cancer
• Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia
• COVID-19
• Huntington’s disease
• Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
• Multiple sclerosis
• Cystic fibrosis
• Parkinson’s disease
• Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
• Sickle cell anemia
• Pulmonary fibrosis
• HIV/AIDS
• Liver disease
• Kidney disease

Of course, some people with these conditions may not require palliative care. It all depends on the individual and the specific illness.

What are Some Palliative Care Benefits?

Palliative care has a lot of benefits you may not have considered. Palliative care helps patients and their loved ones understand the treatment plan, which can help alleviate confusion.

Palliative care allows a patient a higher quality of life, which will make it easier for them to appreciate the time they have left. Palliative care gives a support system to patients and their loved ones that they might not have in place otherwise.

Palliative care also addresses a patients’ spiritual and psychological needs, which can be very helpful for many people. If you don’t like spending time in a hospital then palliative care could be of use for you. That’s because it reduces the amount of time you have to spend at the hospital.

Unlike other forms of treatment, palliative care offers emotional support along with physical support. Severe illness can have a huge toll on your mental health, so it’s important to have all the help you can get.

Look Into Palliative Care Today

Clearly, palliative care can be necessary for some situations. So, do your research, and find out if palliative care is right for you. Check out Epping Gardens palliative care to know more.

Looking for more information on healthcare and related issues? Make sure that you take a look at some of the other articles on this site today.