Moving Towards Palliative or Hospice Care?

12 May Moving Towards Palliative or Hospice Care?

Learn about the natural shift in care goals that can occur with serious illness, leading to a transition towards palliative care or hospice care focused on comfort and quality of life.

Receiving a diagnosis of a serious illness often begins with a focus on curative treatments aimed at fighting the disease. However, as an illness progresses, there may come a time when the goals of care naturally shift. This can be a challenging and emotional period for patients and families, involving a transition from aggressive treatment to a focus on comfort and quality of life through palliative care or hospice care.

Understanding this potential shift and how care adapts can help individuals and families navigate this transition with greater clarity and peace.

The Evolution of Care Goals:

Initially, the primary goal for many patients is to cure the illness or significantly extend life. Medical treatments are chosen with this objective in mind. However, serious illnesses can be unpredictable, and there may come a point where:

• Curative treatments are no longer effective in stopping or slowing the disease.
• The side effects and burdens of aggressive treatments outweigh the potential benefits.
• The patient’s priorities shift from prolonging life at all costs to focusing on comfort, dignity, and spending quality time with loved ones.

Recognising and acknowledging this shift in priorities is a natural and important part of the journey with a serious illness.

Transitioning to Palliative Care:

Palliative care can be introduced at any point during a serious illness, even alongside curative treatment. However, it becomes particularly valuable when symptoms are challenging or when the focus begins to broaden beyond just curing the disease to include maximising comfort and well-being.

• Integrating Palliative Care Early: Ideally, palliative care is introduced early in the illness trajectory. This allows for symptom management and support from the outset, making any future shift in goals less abrupt.
• Palliative Care as the Primary Focus: As the illness progresses, palliative care may become the primary focus of care, even if some less aggressive disease-modifying treatments continue. The emphasis is firmly on comfort and quality of life.

Transitioning to Hospice Care:

Hospice care is a specific type of palliative care chosen when a patient is diagnosed with a terminal illness and a prognosis of typically six months or less if the illness runs its usual course. The transition to hospice care signifies a shift from pursuing curative treatments to focusing entirely on comfort, dignity, and support for the patient and family during the final months of life.

• A Conscious Decision: Choosing hospice care is a conscious decision made by the patient and their family in consultation with their doctor. It is about aligning care with the reality of the illness trajectory and prioritising comfort.
• Focus on Comfort: Once the transition to hospice is made, the entire care plan is centred around providing comfort, managing symptoms, and supporting the patient and family emotionally and spiritually.
• Discontinuing Curative Treatments: In most cases, aggressive curative treatments are discontinued in hospice, as the focus is no longer on trying to cure the illness.

Open Communication is Key:

Navigating these transitions requires open and honest communication between the patient, their family, and the healthcare team. Discussions about prognosis, treatment options, and goals of care should happen regularly as the illness progresses. Palliative care teams are skilled in facilitating these difficult but important conversations.

Shifting care goals is not about giving up hope; it’s about redefining hope to focus on comfort, dignity, and quality of life in the face of a serious or terminal illness. Embracing palliative care or transitioning to hospice care when appropriate allows for a focus on living well in the time that remains.

Reach out to us at https://angelwingshospice.org/contact-us/