Palliative care is a specialised field of medicine that focuses on providing relief from pain, symptoms and stress of serious illness. It’s for people with life-limiting illness such as cancer, heart failure or dementia.
Palliative care can help you live better by relieving suffering and supporting your goals for treatment.
Have an open and sincere conversation with your doctor.
- Be open with your doctor.
- Ask questions.
- Listen to the answers and make sure you understand them fully.
- Don’t be shy about asking for explanations in different ways if you don’t get it the first time around (and ask for more than one explanation if necessary).
Look for a palliative care team that’s appropriate for you.
While finding a palliative care team is important, it’s also important to consider whether or not the team is appropriate for your needs. To do this, consider the following questions:
- Can the team provide help when it’s needed? Look for a palliative care team that is close by and available 24/7.
- If you live in an area with limited resources, or if your illness requires immediate attention, it may be necessary to travel outside of your community to access specialised services. You can also check out local hospice programs online for further details.
- Do they have cultural sensitivity? It’s important for people from all backgrounds and faiths to feel included as part of their end-of-life care plans.
- Find out if there are any special considerations regarding religious beliefs or cultural practices before choosing any one practitioner over another.
Research palliative care options and clarify what you want.
- Find out what the team can do for you and what they cannot do for you.
- Find out what you can do for yourself, and find out what your family can do.
Trust yourself; trust your instincts.
You should trust yourself, your instincts and your own power to make decisions. Trust that you have the ability to make choices that are right for you and those around you; trust in your ability to make sound judgments about what’s best for everyone involved. Trust your own experience, knowledge and wisdom.
Trust yourself because it takes time to learn how to trust people again after being betrayed by someone else – it can be a hard thing to do at first, but once you get used to it, then everything will start falling into place!
Conclusion
The most important thing is to seek out palliative care that meets your needs. You can start by talking to your doctor, who may have some suggestions for you.
This can be a good place to start, but keep in mind that there are many types of caregivers who specialise in palliative care. You should also look into other options available near where you live or work so that when it comes time for treatment, everything goes smoothly without any delays!