Spreading the Principles of Palliative Care to All Corners
In a Health Affairs Forefront essay, Dr. Jessica Zitter reflects on her daughter’s consideration of palliative care as a specialty and raises concerns that "compassion-minded clinicians" increasingly see palliative care as the only place to practice their values. She argues that over-reliance on palliative care specialists risks leaving other fields “deskilled” in the core areas of communication, holistic care, and pain management, and calls for spreading palliative care principles across all corners of medicine. Dr. Zitter proposes concrete strategies, including interprofessional education and chaplain rotations, to ensure clinicians across specialties are equipped to provide compassionate, patient-centered care.