Palliative Care

Palliative care focuses on helping patients and families improve their quality of life in the face of serious illness. Our palliative care team in Kansas City partners with the specialists providing active treatment to cure or control disease. We aid in symptom management, focus on mental, spiritual and emotional care, and help patients make and communicate desired care decisions.

While hospice care at the end of life is an important part of our field, palliative care is far broader. Our mission is to help patients and families live as fully as possible while working to cure or manage complex illness.

Palliative care offers benefits to patients facing a wide range of complex or chronic medical conditions. We help patients manage symptoms and concerns to promote their quality of life as they strive to survive and thrive.

The palliative care team's medical expertise is focused on symptom control. We provide symptom assessment and work to deeply understand not only what's causing pain or nausea or depression or anxiety, but also how various medicines or treatments in use to combat the underlying disease may be causing or contributing to those symptoms.

Our specialty-trained physicians, nurses and social workers:

• Relieve suffering through the treatment of pain and other disease symptoms
• Provide psychological and spiritual care to patients and families
• Help patients live each day as well as possible
• Promote and facilitate patient-centered decisions
• Coordinate palliative home health and hospice services
• Provide emotional support for family members

We also address the mental and psychological impact severe symptoms or multiple mild symptoms may have on day-to-day life.

Many patients facing complex or chronic conditions wonder if palliative care could benefit them.

If you have any of the following thoughts, we encourage you to ask your physician for a referral to palliative care. You may benefit from a one-time consult or may want to plan regular visits to build an ongoing relationship with a palliative care specialist.

• My treatment is causing its own set of symptoms. I wish I had more help managing these.
• I'd like to maintain the best possible quality of life, even while pursuing treatment or controlling symptoms.
• I need someone to talk to about living with a serious disease and the possibility that I could die.
• My family is having a hard time accepting my diagnosis and needs.
• I want to remain as independent as possible for as long as I can.
• I want to have a voice in my care plan now in case I become unable to speak for myself.
• I need more support communicating with doctors and family members.

Our specialists can help address needs spanning advanced care, communications with your loved ones, financial concerns, personal care, symptom management and more.

• The integration of our program with an academic medical center and the No. 1 hospital in Kansas City and in Kansas as ranked by U.S. News & World Report ensures we see a broad spectrum of patients, families and conditions. We have broad and deep experience to support patients with diverse diagnoses and individual goals.
• Our palliative care doctors collaborate with disease-specific physicians to provide patient and family support, improve comfort and address quality of life issues. Patients and families need not choose between active treatment and palliative care. They can receive both.
• As part of an academic medical center with the University of Kansas Medical Center as well as The University of Kansas Cancer Center, we provide patients with access to clinical trials often not available elsewhere in the region. Our palliative care doctors partner closely with researchers and clinicians leading these studies to ensure patients receive useful palliative treatment while maintaining eligibility for trials.