Clinic combines ILD, palliative care to improve access for underserved patients

Clinic combines ILD, palliative care to improve access for underserved patients 
Healio; by Richard Gawel; 10/18/24 
Boston, MA - A subspeciality clinic that combined pulmonary and palliative care improved access to these treatments for diverse and underserved populations, according to an abstract presented at the CHEST Annual Meeting. The clinic also was effective in supporting patients as they completed advanced care planning, compared with a clinic for interstitial lung disease, Meghan Price, MD, internal medicine resident, Johns Hopkins Hospital, and colleagues wrote. ... Rebecca Anna Gersten, MD, assistant professor of medicine, established the Breathlessness Clinic (BC) in 2022 to provide both pulmonary and palliative care to treat patients with significant dyspnea and other symptoms due to their advanced lung disease. The clinic aims to provide targeted management of symptoms in addition to improving access to palliative care for patients who may have encountered obstacles in accessing palliative care, the researchers said.