Correcting the Misperception of Palliative Care
In a powerful guest column in McKnights Long-Term Care News, Andrew Esch, MD, MBA, writes about how palliative care is an often-misunderstood term, aiming to correct the record for all clinicians treating seriously ill patients.
"We [provide] complex pain and symptom management, and in-depth communication geared to quality of life. We acknowledge that our patients are humans with feelings, emotions, and lives outside of the exam room. We view the whole person, provide the facts – and we listen. We allow space for silence and we validate feelings. We do all of this while our patients receive disease-targeted treatment."