Consumer health basics (14)
- Living wills and advance directives for medical decisions
- Clinical trials: A chance to try new therapies
- Personal health record: A tool for managing your health
- see all in Consumer health basics
Alternative medicine (11)
- Herbal supplements may not mix with heart medicines
- Complementary and alternative medicine: Evaluate treatment claims
- Complementary and alternative medicine
- see all in Alternative medicine
Medications (4)
- Antibiotics: Misuse puts you and others at risk
- Medication errors: Cut your risk with these tips
- Buying prescription drugs online: The do's and don'ts
- see all in Medications
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Palliative care: Easing the course of serious illness
Palliative care can provide pain and symptom relief, support and coordinated, holistic care for people who have serious illnesses. Find out more about palliative care.
By Mayo Clinic staffIf you or a loved one has a serious or life-threatening illness, you might have thought about palliative care. To understand palliative care and how it can help relieve pain and improve quality of life, consider the following questions.
What is palliative care?
Palliative care aims to improve quality of life for people who have advanced illnesses, as well as their families. Palliative care also takes into account the emotional, physical and spiritual needs and goals of the person who's being treated and his or her family. Palliative care doesn't replace primary medical treatment. Instead, palliative care is provided in conjunction with all other medical treatment.
Who can benefit from palliative care?
Anyone who has a serious or life-threatening illness can benefit from palliative care, either to treat signs and symptoms of the disease or to ease the side effects of treatment. In addition, palliative care can help if you or a loved one needs help understanding more about an illness or coordinating medical care.
How does palliative care work?
Palliative care can be provided throughout treatment for a serious illness — whether you or your loved one is being treated on an outpatient basis or in a hospital, nursing home or through hospice. This type of treatment can be provided by various specialists, including doctors, nurses, social workers, psychologists, counselors, chaplains, registered dietitians, pharmacists and rehabilitation specialists.
A palliative care specialist works with the primary care doctor and a team of other professionals to create a treatment plan that eases symptoms, relieves pain, addresses spiritual and psychological concerns, and helps maintain dignity and comfort. By reducing signs and symptoms during treatment, you or your loved one may be more likely to complete treatment and maintain an improved quality of life.
A palliative care specialist can also help you or your loved one communicate with doctors and family members and create a smooth transition between the hospital and home care or nursing facilities. The palliative care team will educate you or your loved one as well as other family members about what to expect and schedule routine meetings to discuss goals and ongoing care. If necessary, a palliative care specialist can help coordinate financial and legal assistance.
Next page(1 of 2)
- Grant M, et al. Current status of palliative care - Clinical implementation, education, and research. CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians. 2009;59:327.
- Clary PL, et al. Pharmacologic pearls for end-of-life care. American Family Physician. 2009;79:1059.
- Bradley CT, et al. Developing guidelines that identify patients who could benefit from palliative care services in the surgical intensive care unit. Critical Care Medicine. 2009;47:946.
- Teno JM, et al. Referring a patient and family to high-quality palliative care at the close of life. Journal of the American Medical Association. 2009;301:651.
- Palliative care: The relief you need when you're experiencing the symptoms of serious illness. National Institute of Nursing Research. http://www.ninr.nih.gov/NewsAndInformation/NINRPublications/. Accessed Nov. 24, 2009.
- Moynihan TJ (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. Nov. 25, 2009.
- Carey EC (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. Dec. 10, 2009.
Find Mayo Clinic on