These three types of care are curative, palliative, and hospice. Hospice is end of life care where the patient is kept comfortable as life is ending. I am not going to talk about hospice care in this post. I want to concentrate on curative and palliative.
Curative care is the care that most of us are familiar with. We go to the doctor complaining of pain in our hip and the doctor schedules a series of bloodwork and X-rays to determine the underlying cause of the pain. Once the cause has been established, the doctor prescribes drugs, exercises, surgeries, and other treatments that are directed at correcting the underlying cause of your pain.
Palliative care is focused solely on providing comfort for the person who has that pain in the hip. Heat may be applied or stretches, and pain medication may be the prescription. The cause is much less important to the palliative care provider than it is to the curative care provider. Most physicians practice in both realms at various times.
Palliative care is essentially a special branch of healthcare dedicated to helping people cope with the difficulties of living with severe and long-lasting illnesses. “It includes a wide range of services that can be tailored to meet the specific needs and concerns of individual patients.” (“How Palliative Care Can Help You Live a Better Life At Any …”) According to my friends at LPT Medical these are some examples of common services and treatments offered through palliative care:
- Symptom relief (including both symptoms caused by the disease and side-effects of medications)
- Pain relief
- Emotional and psychological support
- Physical/occupational therapy
Palliative care is available to anyone with a chronic illness. (“I’m a Patient – Palliative Care”) The illness does not need to be in the final stages to qualify the person for palliative care. Palliative care may be able to provide oxygen therapy for patients who do not qualify for supplemental oxygen based on their oxygen saturation levels. Palliative care can sometimes get oxygen therapy to relieve breathlessness (LPT Medical, Nov.30,21).
Talk to your doctor if you think that you might benefit from palliative care.
#oxygen360 #palliativecare #copdfoundation