Mercy Palliative Care Program
Palliative care is a form of supportive care for chronically ill patients and their loved ones.
With growing recognition of the need for compassionate, patient-centered care, there has been a national movement in recent years to integrate palliative care into hospital settings.
Mercy Medical Center is on the leading edge of this movement.
Our Palliative Care Team of skilled health professionals works closely with patients, family and health providers to offer the best quality of life and comfort possible for people with serious disease or life-limiting illness.
Mercy's Palliative Care Program reflects the best of the Mercy Touch, to care and comfort always...
What is Palliative Care?
Palliative care is specialized, individual care for people living with acute or serious illness that no longer may be responsive to curative treatment. It uses the "whole person" approach to bridge the gap between curative and comfort care.
Palliative care focuses on comfort and quality of life, and on the need for easing pain and suffering. It is provided by skilled health-care professionals with expertise in pain and symptom management, treatment options and support for the patient and family members.
Palliative Care includes:
- Pain and symptom management
- Attention to emotional, psychosocial and spiritual needs of patients facing life-threatening illness
- Caregiver support - helping family members provide support for their loved ones, and each other
- Helping each patient live fully and comfortably
- Affirming life and death as a normal process.
Who qualifies for Palliative Care?
Patients who qualify for palliative care have a complex illness or serious health problems that limit function and may be life-threatening. This situation results in frequent visits to hospital emergency rooms, or more than one hospital admission for the same diagnosis within the past month.
Patients with progressive neurological disorders like Parkinson's disease or people with advanced cardiac or pulmonary disease, dementia or cancer can benefit from Palliative Care.
What is the goal of Palliative Care?
The goal is to:
- Relieve suffering
- Achieve the best quality of life for patients with serious illness
- Support patients' families throughout this time.
Seriously ill patients can benefit from palliative care at any stage of illness. The program's concentration is on life-enhancing care, not death; we want to make each day the best it can be for each patient.
Mercy's Palliative Care Program incorporates dedicated symptom management to ease pain and distress; spiritual support; and informed decision-making with each patient and family as illness progresses.
We also initiate bereavement support for family members.
Who is on the Palliative Care Team?
- Patient's physician
- Palliative care physician
- Advanced practice nurse
- Social worker
- Chaplain
- Patient and family members
The care team works with attending physicians to plan for symptom management, to provide family support, to protect patients' autonomy and to thoroughly address care needs and decision-making.
The comprehensive and caring approach offered through palliative care is the essence of the Mercy Touch.
For more information on Mercy Medical Center's Palliative Care Program, please call (319) 533-0106.
Learn more about Hospice of Mercy.
