Standing left to right: Alex Nesbitt, MD; Karen Clark, RN, MS, CRNP; Wendy Fetzer, CRNP; Cherrie Serra, RN; Pat Kiernan, MSW. Sitting left to right: Nancy Patchen, RN, MS, ACHPN; Karen Brown, MD.
Patients with advanced chronic disease, such as cancer, severe heart or kidney disease or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) can benefit from Palliative Care Services offered to inpatients at Susquehanna Health. Palliative care is delivered by a specially-trained team that helps manage a patient's physical pain and symptoms as well as the social, spiritual and emotional challenges facing patients with a life-limiting disease. Care can be given to patients in a hospital setting or long-term care facility.
A patient may still be actively treating his or her disease and not require hospice care; however, a person with a life-limiting disease faces difficult physical, emotional and perhaps spiritual challenges. Palliative care addresses these by:
- Providing a team approach to caring for the patient. Our team includes a doctor and a nurse practitioner who specialize in palliative care medicine, a medical social worker and a chaplain
- Coordinating care between the patient, the palliative care team and the patient's doctor to provide comfort for physical symptoms
- Providing support for the social, spiritual and emotional challenges that patients and families with life-limiting diseases experience
- Helping patients to live as full and dignified life as possible