Palliative Care Services Brochure (PDF) - St. Nicholas Hospital

Being faced with a serious, chronic, or lifelimiting illness can affect you or yourloved one in many ways.St. Nicholas Hospital is pleased to offer aPalliative Care Program that can assist youor your loved one in dealing with aserious, chronic, or life limiting illness by:• Addressing your unique symptommanagement needs.• Focusing on improving your qualityof life.• Managing your symptoms to keep you athome, resulting in fewer hospital visits.What is Palliative Care?The philosophy of palliative care is tofocus on quality of life issues, symptommanagement, communication, andemotional and spiritual wellness whilecontinuing some form of therapy for thechronic illness itself. Treatment decisionsare made in the context of maximizingquality of life while understanding that theultimate disease outcome may not change.Palliative Care does not replace activetreatment of your disease nor is it hospice.Palliative Care is beneficial at any stageof illness.What Can Palliative CareDo For Me?Palliative Care is a proven means to meetthe needs of those who are suffering fromserious, chronic or life limiting illness.Some of the ways that Palliative Carecan meet your needs include:• Treatment of complex symptomsincluding but not limited to:• Pain• Nausea• Constipation• Insomnia• Anxiety• Depression• Palliative Care also:• Facilitates communication betweenthe patient, family members, andstaff about treatment.• Provides spiritual and emotionalsupport to patients and families.• Addresses concerns as the patient’scondition changes.• Assists with hospital discharge andcontinuation of Palliative CareServices in the home setting.The Palliative Care TeamThe Palliative Care Team, aninterdisciplinary group of health careprofessionals, works with the patient’sprimary care physician to establish a planof care based on the patient’s individualneeds.The Palliative Care Team typicallyincludes:• Physician Specialist• Primary Care Physician• Palliative Care Nurses• Chaplain• Social Worker• Care Management Nurse• Rehab staff• Other specialized providersThe patient and family are always a partof the care planning process throughregular scheduled family meetings.