Palliative care is the process of caring for patients with advanced illnesses by focusing on providing the highest quality of life.  All methods of easing symptoms are based on National Comprehensive Cancer Network protocols.
  
A wide range of patients may benefit from the support of the Palliative Care team, including those still receiving curative therapies.  Palliative care, however, is especially suited to people facing a progressive, potentially incurable illness. Palliative care may be delivered in hospice and home care settings or in hospitals. Specialized palliative care programs exist for conditions such as cancer.

Each patient's Palliative Care program focuses on:

• Controlling difficult symptoms
• Developing a plan to improve quality of life
• Providing comfort care or pain management
• Assisting with end-of-life decisions

While hospice and Palliative Care are not considered the same thing, hospice can be considered as part of the entire Palliative care spectrum.  If seeking curative treatment is no longer appropriate and a patient’s prognosis is about six months, a patient then becomes eligible for hospice. To receive Palliative Care, the patient's doctor will contact the Palliative Care team. A Palliative Care Consult team consists of your doctor, a triage nurse, a medical social worker, pharmacist and chaplain. Both hospice and palliative teams work together to support the patient and family throughout the course of the illness and through bereavement.