Palliative Care

What is it?

• Palliative care is a medical specialty backed by an interdisciplinary team that supports the care of patients with serious and life-threatening illnesses.
• Palliative care treats complex pain and other symptoms, handles intensive patient/family communication and assists with clarification regarding goals of care. 
• Palliative care supports the staff’s plan of care by making the patient as comfortable as possible at all stages of illness, simultaneously, with curative care or other medical treatment.
• Palliative care is evidence-based medical treatment that has been shown to significantly lower pain and discomfort, improve patient outcomes and boost patient and family satisfaction while freeing the staff from time-consuming coordination and support.

What it is not.

• Palliative care is NOT an alternative to curative treatment.
• Patients benefit from palliative care before, during and after curative or life-prolonging care.
• Palliative care is NOT hospice.
• Palliative care is offered at ANY stage of any illness. Hospice care is appropriate for people with terminal illnesses, at the last stages of life and a prognosis of six months or less and for whom curative or life-prolonging therapies are not effective.

Consult Palliative Care

Contact the Hillcrest Information Desk by dialing 918.579.1000 or "0" within the hospital to obtain the pager number for the on-call palliative practitioner.