Innovative approach to improving serious illness care
When one faces a serious illness,“ Plan A” is to utilize the powers of modern medicine to try to restore health.
Equally important are the conversations that physicians have with their patients regarding their wishes for everything from symptom control to long-term care planning to help improve their quality of life.
The answers for each of these difficult questions will vary from person to person, and oftentimes, physicians and family members don’ t know what’ s most important to the patient in these circumstances. In palliative care, we pose these questions to our patients facing
Dr. Atul Gawande serious illness – and the earlier the better – so their wishes are understood long before a crisis occurs.
Physicians outside of palliative care know it’ s important to have these discussions, but many have difficulty starting them and aren’ t sure what to say, according to a recent national poll. In the U. S., we’ re currently faced with a significant shortage of specialty palliative care providers, so it is critical for other medical professionals to also be trained to care for the most seriously ill patients. A New Palliative Care Program To improve the care of seriously ill
18 patients and their families, Baylor Scott & White Health is the first health system in the U. S. to implement the Serious Illness Conversation and Care Planning Program, developed by Ariadne Labs, a joint center of Brigham and Women’ s Hospital and Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health.
The program trains specialists outside of palliative care— family practitioners, internists, cardiologists, oncologists, geriatricians and others who care for seriously ill patients— across the Baylor Scott & White system to have more frequent, better and earlier conversations about their patients’ goals and end-of-life care wishes.
“ Serious illness care demands communication expertise, not just at a moment of crisis, but long before a crisis occurs,” said Robert Fine, M. D., clinical director of the Office of Clinical Ethics and Palliative Care for Baylor Scott & White.“ The Serious Illness Conversation and Care Planning Program allows Baylor Scott & White to take a population health approach to give more patients and families facing serious illness the opportunity to make informed choices that reflect their values, reduce suffering, enhance family well-being and improve their quality of life, even if a cure might not be possible.”