What Are Palliative Care Services?
UConn Health Palliative Care Services are dedicated to providing patient- and family-centered medical care to people with serious or life-limiting illnesses. Through interdisciplinary team support, we focus on improving a patient’s quality of life. Our goals are to decrease discomfort or difficulties caused by illness or medication side effects and to provide compassionate care to patients and their loved ones.
Palliative care is sometimes called supportive care. Receiving palliative or supportive care does not mean you must stop any other medical treatments. Palliative care specialists see patients in clinics, and patients typically continue to get treatment for other medical conditions.
Evidence has shown that palliative care, when delivered alongside care directed at a patient’s underlying illness, can improve quality of life, reduce symptoms, improve patient and caregiver satisfaction, and increase survival rate. In brief, palliative care is about living better and possibly longer.
Being There for Patients Who Need Us Most
Palliative care supports patients and families facing the diagnosis of a serious illness. Palliative care can help those who suffer from pain, stress, or other symptoms due to a serious illness, such as:
- Cancer
- Heart disease
- Lung disease
- Kidney disease
- Alzheimer’s disease
- HIV/AIDS
- ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis)
- Multiple sclerosis
- Parkinson’s disease
- Dementia
Delivering Care
Palliative care can be provided in a variety of settings, including the hospital and outpatient clinics.
Inpatient Consultation
For UConn John Dempsey Hospital patients, care is provided by specialists certified in palliative medicine, including doctors, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, social workers, chaplains, and other healthcare professionals. Our collaborative approach offers an extra layer of support and care coordination, providing help in:
- Improving physical symptoms.
- Finding psychosocial, emotional, and spiritual support.
- Understanding illness and treatment options.
- Navigating the healthcare system.
- Making choices about care and communicating choices and needs to medical teams.
Outpatient Palliative Care
Our palliative care team is here to assist patients in living well with serious illnesses and diseases. Working closely with patients, families, and other caregivers, we help ensure patients receive the best possible care and choose the best medical treatments.
Palliative care (sometimes called supportive care) is specialized care that helps patients live well with serious illnesses and diseases. At UConn Health, palliative care specialists:
- Expertly manage pain and distressing symptoms.
- Evaluate your pain and work with your primary or referring physician on a care plan that may include medications for symptoms.
- Support patients and families as they adjust to living with serious illness.
- Help with understanding illnesses and treatment options.
- Help with making choices and navigating the healthcare system.
- Complete paperwork that outlines your healthcare preferences (e.g., healthcare representative, advance directive).
Working closely, the team helps ensure patients get the best possible care and choose the best medical treatments.
Cancer Center Supportive Care
The Neag Comprehensive Cancer Center offers patient- and family-centered palliative care for individuals living with cancer. It is meant to supplement, not replace, the treatment plan that has been decided upon by the medical team and patient, which could include chemotherapy, radiation, or surgery.
Referrals & Consultations
You can request a referral to the palliative care team from your doctor, nurse practitioner, or any member of your treatment team. Consultation evaluations and ongoing care can be provided during a hospitalization or in the outpatient setting, either in the Palliative Care Services or the Cancer Center Supportive Care, for patients followed within the Neag Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Insurance Coverage
Most insurance plans, including Medicare and Medicaid, offer coverage for palliative care.
Nurse Navigator
Katie Killeen, BSN, RN, CHPN
Palliative Care Clinic Nurse
Phone: 860-679-1100
Email: killeen@uchc.edu
Fax: 860-679-1017
Nurse Navigators are here to help you through your entire health journey, diagnosis through treatment.