The palliative care team at Baylor Scott & White Medical Center-Plano treats up to 20 patients.[/caption]The palliative care team at Baylor, Scott & White Medical Center Plano helps patients and their families cope with and understand the challenges of incurable illnesses like cancer.
The team specializes in providing relief from the symptoms and stress of a serious illness. Its goal is to improve the quality of life for patients and their families. This care starts with providing patients with the information they need, said Brienna Nation-Howard, medical director of Supportive and Palliative Care at Baylor, Scott & White Medical Center-Plano.
“[We help them understand] what’s going on with their condition [and] what to expect,” Howard said.
Howard said she realized the need for better palliative care early in her career while serving as a surgical oncology intern.
“I felt like there was no place in medicine for these patients that had incurable diseases, and yet they were still suffering and they weren’t actively dying,” she said. “We do a terrible job of taking care of people at the end of their life. But there is a whole lot of living that goes on before that.”
The hospital introduced the palliative care unit in January 2012. Today, the team treats anywhere between 10 and 20 patients at Baylor Plano and its neighbor, The Heart Hospital Baylor Plano. Services are based on referrals only.
The palliative care team consists of physicians, nurse practitioners, children specialists and pastoral care, which is important because people are spiritually at risk with illness, said Alfred Levy, supportive and palliative care doctor at Baylor Plano. The team also relies on assistance from nutritionists, pharmacists, social workers, physical and occupational therapists as well as social workers.
There are probably less than 10 practicing palliative care teams consisting of physician specialists in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, Levy said. Palliative care is different than chronic pain management or hospice care in that its team approach gives patients the means to tolerate and overcome complex symptoms that come with chronic illness, Levy said.
“We focus on lessening human suffering and improving outcomes, [and] we deal with all states of illness,” he said. “We try to make the intolerable more tolerable, the difficult less difficult, and approach it with kindness and compassion.”
