Patient and Family Care
The mission of Palliative Medicine at Crouse Hospital is to:
- Enable patients/families/caregivers to make informed decisions about patient care by educating them on the process of their disease, prognosis, and the benefits and burdens of potential interventions
- Convert the patient treatment goals into medical orders, and ensure that the information is transferable and applicable across care settings
- Develop healthcare and community collaborations to promote advance care planning and the completion of advance directives for all individuals
Patients and families want to review all possible treatment options with their physician. Important choices need to be made, including whether to continue aggressive therapy or to change the goal to comfort care as the end of life nears. Such conversations are not easy.
The Palliative Medicine Service at Crouse Hospital can help. A Palliative Medicine consultation can improve the quality of life for the patient by optimizing symptom management, providing for emotional and spiritual support and by addressing individual concerns and translating those into a plan of care.
Our multidisciplinary team encourages communication and can facilitate a family meeting with the patient and his or her loved ones. Family meetings are used as an opportunity for the Crouse Palliative Medicine team to offer support while reviewing the illness, prognosis and assessing patient-centered goals of care.
