Palliative Care

Palliative Care Overview

Palliative care is a medical specialty focused on improving the quality of life of people with any serious, chronic or terminal illness. It is appropriate at any age and at any point in the course of an illness and may even be recommended along with curative and life-prolonging treatments. Palliative care provides relief from symptoms including pain, shortness of breath, fatigue, constipation, nausea, loss of appetite, sleep problems and many others. Patients facing chronic illnesses such as cancer, cardiac or lung disease or kidney or liver failure can often live for years after receiving a diagnosis. For these patients, especially, palliative care is essential so that they can remain in control of their lives and care during the course of their illness.

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Palliative Care Team

At Phelps, we are taking a pro-active position with regard to the new law and in helping patients with serious illness. Even before the law went into effect, our multi-disciplinary Palliative Care Team went into action, focusing first on educating all the physicians on our medical staff about what their new obligation would be, then making the team available for consultation with healthcare providers and patients. The Palliative Care Team works with a patient’s primary care physician and may work with other services such as Hospice and Pain Management. The goal, always, is to improve a patient’s quality of life in every way possible: to alleviate pain, to relieve stress, to facilitate communication, and to make the patient and family feel better!

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Palliative Care Services

Specific services offered by the Phelps Palliative Care Team include:

• Coordination of care with a patient’s primary healthcare physician
• Assistance to patients and families with decisions concerning goals and plans of care
• Advanced care planning (planning for future medical care in case an individual becomes unable to make decisions)
• Expertise in pain management as well as other symptom management (nausea, shortness of breath, etc.)
• Expertise in dealing with emotional, spiritual and psychosocial needs of patients and families
• Coordination of care that will allow a patient to remain as functional and independent as possible
• Assistance with coordination of care across all healthcare settings (hospital, home, nursing facilities)

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Contact

(914) 366-3677

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