Advantages and Challenges of an Interdisciplinary Palliative Care Team Approach to Surgical Care

Palliative care is an interdisciplinary field that focuses on optimizing quality of life for patients with serious, life-limiting illnesses and includes aggressive management of pain and symptoms; psychological, social, and spiritual support; and discussions of advance care planning, including treat...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Surgical clinics of North America Vol. 99; no. 5; p. 815
Main Authors Rhee, Charles, McHugh, Marlene, Tun, Sandy, Gerhart, James, O'Mahony, Sean
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States 01.10.2019
Subjects
Primary palliative care
Training
Palliative care
Nursing
Surgery
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Summary:Palliative care is an interdisciplinary field that focuses on optimizing quality of life for patients with serious, life-limiting illnesses and includes aggressive management of pain and symptoms; psychological, social, and spiritual support; and discussions of advance care planning, including treatment decision making and complex care coordination. Early palliative care is associated with increased quality of life, decreased symptom burden, decreased health care expenditures, and improved caregiver outcomes. This article discusses integrating interdisciplinary palliative care into surgical practice, and some current models of using and expanding palliative care skill sets in surgery, including training initiatives for both physicians and nurses.
ISSN:1558-3171
DOI:10.1016/j.suc.2019.05.004