Stanford Palliative Care Center of Excellence

The term "Palliative Care" (pronounced pal-lee-uh-tiv) comes from the word "palliate" which means to alleviate or reduce suffering.  

Palliative Care is specialized holistic or "whole person" medical care for people living with a serious illness and their loved ones.  It aims to provide relief from symptoms and stress of the body (physical symptoms), mind (psychological distress), and spirit (existential or spiritual concerns), while also helping with practical aspects of life.  The goal is to improve quality of life for both the person living with the illness and those close to them, such as family, friends, and caregivers.

• It is provided for people all ages--children to older adults--at any time when there is a need for it.  Some people see palliative care teams for years, others for a shorter time.  Some people stop seeing the team when they feel better, then go back to see the team if things worsen.
• People get palliative care while receiving all their other treatments, including treatments to cure the illness.
• Palliative care is provided by a specially-trained team of doctors, nurses, and other specialists.  Together, the team prescribes medications and other treatments to improve difficult symptoms, provides emotional, spiritual, and social support, provides referrals to resources as needed, and coordinates your care among all your other doctors and health care teams.
• Palliative care teams look at the broader picture and see the person beyond the disease.  They talk with people and their loved ones about what they value and what matters most to them, and then make sure their health care plan matches those things.   This often happens in what are called "goals of care" meetings.
• Palliative care is covered by health insurance like any other medical specialty.
• People with the following serious illnesses can often benefit from seeing a palliative care team:  cancer, heart disease, lung disease, kidney disease, liver disease, and dementia.

There are many benefits people experience when receiving palliative care, which have been shown by research:

• Improved control of difficult symptoms, including those of the body (pain, shortness of breath), and of the mind (anxiety, depression)
• Improved spiritual well-being
• Improved satisfaction with care
• Caregivers of people who receive palliative care feel less burdened
• Less visits to the hospital, and if hospitalized, the stay is shorter 
• Some people live longer when receiving palliative care