Every person has a unique way of how they handle illnesses and how illnesses affect them. Therefore, you cannot generalize the type and degree of care that your loved one should get based on someone else’s experience. So, trust your doctor’s judgments when they instructed you to seek the services or a palliative care provider. It is with this new team that you will best map the goals for care that you want for your loved one, advises an Indiana palliative care provider.
It, however, is not apparent that you will meet all these goals, or even at the same time. Ideally, that is because palliative care providers require first to understand the needs to draft an individualized care plan that will suit you best.
The Goals Outlined
When seeking palliative care, the goals could vary depending on your budget, the stage of illness, and the degree of care that you want for your loved one. Mainly, these goals encompass relieving pain and related illness symptoms and addressing emotional, spiritual and psychological concerns. They also include coordinating your care and improving the quality of the patient’s life. Therefore, even before you discuss the cost of palliative care to budget for, determine which of these four goals you want the caregiver to address.
What to Expect
In some cases, palliative care providers may process your loved one for medications and therapies to alleviate the pain that the illness is inflicting on their bodies. They can have such arrangements also for managing other symptoms such as constipation, stomach irritation, and nausea. Additionally, your care provider can request the help of social workers in coordinating your care. Besides, the team can have a chaplain offer your loved one spiritual support in exploring his/her beliefs and spiritual values. They also can offer you emotional support, home care services, all the necessary medical information.
But, note that these special arrangements, may or may not, be at an extra expense depending on the care provider that you choose.
The Team You’ll Work With
The team behind the palliative care that your loved one will receive is interdisciplinary. In most cases, you will have doctors, nurses, and social workers working together. You, however, can have other professionals join this team, depending on the patient’s needs. These could include art therapists, chaplains, counselors, dieticians, and home care aides. You also can have pharmacists, physical therapists, and rehab specialists. What you will learn when dealing with palliative care providers is that no model is the same, whether it is between caregivers or patients.
If your doctor referred you for palliative care, the chances are high that they do not offer these services in their medical facility. But, hospices, smaller hospitals, and nursing homes could also be having such arrangements, notes an Indiana palliative care. However, it is best if you subscribed to a facility that specializes in palliative care as they have the training, experience, and networks to handle your loved one in the best way possible. Even with that, though, it is prudent that you check their service history to determine the quality of their services.
