Patient-Centered Care: The Palliative Approach

Palliative care is a special form of healthcare that aims to relieve the symptoms and stress of chronic, serious illnesses. Palliative care can be provided at home, in an outpatient setting such as a clinic or health center, or in a hospital or other inpatient facility. In coordination with the patient’s primary care physician and other medical specialists, palliative care providers work to identify and meet each patient’s unique goals for care and quality of life. They also provide guidance and support to family members and caregivers.

How is Palliative Care Different From Hospice Care?

Palliative care is often misunderstood and confused with hospice care, which focuses on end-of-life care. Palliative care, on the other hand, offers a more holistic approach and focuses on patients and families living with a serious illness but who may have a long time to live.

“Many people are understandably afraid to discuss these types of care,” said Dr. Colin Scibetta, a Palliative Care specialist at Community Memorial Hospital – Ventura. “Historically, medicine as a field was physician-driven in terms of managing patient care. At Community Memorial, those days are long gone and patients lead the way.” Community Memorial’s palliative care team is thoughtful, gentle, and compassionate in how they approach care.

“Over the past few decades, we have come to see that patients need to be at the center of decisions, and now we put together their care plans based on their priorities.” Dr. Scibetta said. Community Memorial’s palliative care team steps in without an agenda and asks for the patient’s permission to help.

“It is a privilege to do what I do, working in these vulnerable spaces,” said Dr. Scibetta. “It is deeply rewarding and soul-filling. We do see people who are suffering and that can be hard, but it makes me grateful for what I have and my health, knowing that things can change.”

Who Benefits From Palliative Care?

Palliative care can be helpful in a variety of situations, such as when serious complications during treatment for a serious illness. This could be a cancer patient undergoing chemotherapy or radiation who is hospitalized with pain, nausea, or gastrointestinal distress from the treatments.

“I work to better control their pain and better manage their symptoms so the patient can be more comfortable and more capable of returning to their treatment plan,” Dr. Scibetta said. “Our goal is to provide maximum support to patients and families as they make difficult medical decisions, help them understand what to anticipate, and tend to the medical and non-medical stresses that go along with being hospitalized.”

Palliative care is also useful when major medical decisions must be made, such as when a heart attack patient must decide whether to undergo bypass surgery or take a more conservative and less invasive approach to managing their heart condition. The palliative care team jumps in by talking to the patient and their family about their emotional, psychological, and spiritual stressors as well as the medical implications. In addition to physicians, the palliative care team at Community Memorial includes social workers, nurses, and chaplains who join together to support the patient and their family as they talk through complex decisions.

Dr. Scibetta shared an especially rewarding case in which the palliative care team helped to coordinate a wedding in the hospital for a cancer patient who was facing a major downturn in her condition and her longtime partner with whom she shared three children. The couple wanted their kids to know that their parents were married and shared a devoted, loving relationship. The palliative care team and the nurses on the patient’s floor at the hospital coordinated getting the marriage license, arranging visits for the children, and getting the woman’s hair ready before the wedding ceremony took place at her bedside.

“It required a lot of people pulling it together and I was privileged and touched to be part of that,” he said. “Sometimes what’s most important transcends medical outcomes.”

To learn more about Palliative Care at Community Memorial, click here.