HEALTHTeam approach best for providing palliative carePatients with life-altering illnesses or injuries pose particular treatment challenges for primary care physicians.By Susan J. Landers, amednews staff. Feb. 24, 2003. Washington -- During his first visit to his primary care physician after a serious fall, a patient was never asked about the life-altering experience that had necessitated his three-month hospital stay and left him unable to walk. On the contrary, the physician made a flippant reference to his patient's "little adventure." The patient found another physician pronto. Injuries and illnesses that permanently change the way patients live their lives necessitate a different kind of care from physicians, one that goes beyond the traditional to include helping patients and families to better cope with an abruptly changed life. Clinicians who are involved in the care of these patients have a big job. They must attempt to help patients make adjustments, manage distress, reduce suffering and find joy and meaning in a changed life, said Russell K. Portenoy, MD, chair of the department of pain medicine and palliative care at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City. It's an approach that can often prove difficult for physicians. "Doctors are taught to cure disease, and if they can't do that, they sometimes don't know what else to do," said Carla Alexander, MD, medical director of the palliative care program at the University of Maryland in Baltimore and medical director for the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization. The University of Maryland Medical Center's program enrolls patients who have life-threatening or life-altering illnesses or injuries, but not necessarily a terminal diagnosis, said Jean Tucker Mann, a social worker who directs patient care services at the medical center and was instrumental in starting the palliative care program. [...]Full text of American Medical News content is available to AMA members and paid subscribers.
Copyright 2003 American Medical Association. All rights reserved.
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