Providing clarity: Communicating the benefits of palliative care beyond end-of-life support

Providing clarity: Communicating the benefits of palliative care beyond end-of-life support
Palliative Care and Social Practice; by Julie L Masters, Patrick W Josh, Amanda J Kirkpatrick, Mariya A Kovaleva, Harlan R Sayles; 6/24
Palliative care affords numerous benefits, including improvements in symptom management, mental health, and quality of life, financial savings, and decreased mortality. Yet palliative care is poorly understood and often erroneously viewed as end-of-life care and hospice. Barriers for better education of the public about palliative care and its benefits include shortage of healthcare providers specializing in palliative care and generalist clinicians' lack of knowledge and confidence to discuss this topic and time constraints in busy clinical settings. This study offers insight into the knowledge and attitudes about palliative care among community-dwelling adults, 19 years and older living in Nebraska. More effort is needed to communicate what palliative care is, who can receive help from it, and why it is not only for people at end of life.