Do You Need Continued Care from Other Physicians During Palliative Care?

If you have considered palliative care to improve your quality of life while seeking curative treatments, you may wonder if you would continue visiting your other doctors. The answer is yes. Palliative care is a supplemental process in addition to the treatment you receive from your oncologist, cardiologist, or another physician.

A palliative care team does not replace the expertise of your primary care team. Instead, they work to make your life more comfortable by working hand-in-hand with your physician. Treatments for lung disease, cancer, or heart disease can be ongoing. You don’t want the rest of your life to pass you by as you tolerate the side effects of the care.

Palliative Care Provides Extra Support

Palliative care services are an extra layer of care surrounding curative treatments for your chronic illness or disease. On top of regular treatments and close monitoring from your primary physician, you will receive visits from your palliative care team to ensure you are comfortable.

Palliative care helps the primary physician by:

• Assisting the families in understanding the steps of care and the side effects to expect
• Setting goals around the curative care
• Listening to patients about what they really want
• Taking special notice of what each patient wants to avoid
• Improving the care for each patient and making the overall process more satisfactory

An oncologist or cardiologist is happy to work with a palliative care team so that they can work together on making the patient experience as comfortable as possible. When you know you can trust your palliative care team, you will not experience thoughts of despair, isolation, hopelessness, and overwhelm throughout the series of treatments.

A palliative care team offers a listening ear. You can share your fears and anxieties and seek solutions to your problem. The team will work with you through trial and error to find the right pain management and mental health treatments to make your life more enjoyable.

Find the Right Palliative Care Provider

It isn’t easy to find a provider that you can trust. Meet the team and learn about its mission. What do typical treatments look like? And do they have a treatment plan that aligns with your goals and expectations?

You can find a team you can trust in Bonita Springs Healthcare Services. Set up a meeting to speak in person and get answers to questions about your medical needs.