How palliative care centers on living well

Palliative care is a team approach to improving quality of life and easing suffering for people with serious, complex, often terminal illnesses, as the main goal of care or alongside treatment to cure illness. How can care help people live well while facing serious illness? The lessons consider how this approach supports people and families across ages and stages of illness.

2 articles, 1 video, 1 book · about 2 hr 16 min of reading and viewing

The reading path

1. Read
   

   palliative care · Wikipedia · 58 min read

   For palliative care, the American Society of Clinical Oncology recommends that patients with advanced cancer be "referred to interdisciplinary palliative care teams that provide inpatient and outpatient care early in the course of disease, alongside active treatment of their cancer" within eight weeks of diagnosis. The Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale (ESAS), used in palliative care, consists of eight visual analog scales (VAS) ranging from 0 to 10, indicating levels of pain, activity, nausea, depression, anxiety, drowsiness, appetite, sensation of well-being, and sometimes shortness of breath. A score of 0 indicates absence of the symptom, and a score of 10 indicates the worst possible severity. Pediatric palliative care providers often use "ask, tell, ask" to assess comprehension and supplement the family's knowledge with expert knowledge. Separately, assessing baseline knowledge identifies gaps and allows providers to offer education; through this process, families can pursue informed, shared medical decision-making about their child's care.

2. Read
   

   "Clinical Practice Guidelines for Quality Palliative Care, 4th edition" · nationalcoalitionhpc.org · 3 min read

   The Clinical Practice Guidelines for Quality Palliative Care, 4th edition create a blueprint for excellence in palliative care, with evidence-based processes and practices for safe, reliable, high-quality care regardless of diagnosis, prognosis, age or care setting. They also formalize evidence-based practices and consensus recommendations for adults, children and families with serious illness.

3. Watch
   

   WTF Is Palliative Care? (w/Dr. Sunita Puri) | Incident Report 241 · YouTube · 1 hr 15 min watch

   Dr. Sunita Puri, Medical Director for Palliative Care at the Keck Medical Center of USC and author of "That Good Night," discusses what palliative medicine and hospice mean.

4. Book
   

   The Bright Hour: A Memoir of Living and Dying · Bookshop.org

   The Bright Hour by Nina Riggs describes living and loving each day with "death in the room," and looking death squarely in the face. Riggs writes about how literature can be a balm and a form of prayer, offering a personal account of facing terminal illness.

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