Our Conversations Webinar Series is an opportunity to link national experts in colorectal cancer and other related fields to you, right in the comfort of your own home. The programs are designed to empower you to play a leading role in your healthcare management.
If you or a loved one are living with cancer, you know this disease can affect your life in ways that reach far beyond cancer’s physical symptoms and treatment.
On March 22, Dr. Manouchka Joseph, Palliative Medicine Medical Director from the Banner Medical Group in Mesa Arizona, discussed the myths and realities of palliative care and how it can help ease patient suffering, improve quality of life, and lend understanding to treatment options and achieve the optimal care outcomes.
Did you miss the webinar? You’re in luck—here are the top takeaways and the replay:
Top 4 Takeaways:
- Palliative care is not Hospice Care and Americans often confuse the two. Hospice care precludes aggressive medical treatment and usually requires a prognosis of six months or less, while palliative care seeks to use life sustaining treatments that compliment patient-defined goals of care to increase quality of life and ensure treatment benefit(s) exceed the treatment burden. The main difference between the two is that a palliative care team can be providing pain relief, psychological and spiritual support — even as another medical specialist is aggressively trying to cure or treat disease
- Palliative care does not “take over” the role of the primary team. Palliative care works with you as a patient to help problem solve and achieve optimal care outcomes as part of a multi-disciplinary approach.
- Palliative care is generally provided by an interdisciplinary team that works with the primary medical team to provide an extra layer of support (e.g. Doctors/nurses/social work/PharmD and other specialists). Palliative care is appropriate at any age and at any stage in serious illness and is provided along with curative treatment.
- Palliative care does not stop all life-saving treatments. It is specialized medical care for people with serious illness and provides relief from symptoms (e.g. pain/nausea/delirium/constipation) with the main goal to improve quality of life.
This webinar was made possible with support thanks to Lilly Oncology.
