An Unlikely Union: Palliative Care and Wellness (400)

Abstract

1.Discuss the role of palliative care as a component of cancer survivorship and chronic disease management.2.Describe a high functioning model of collaboration between palliative care teams, primary care clinicians, and subspecialists across the continuum of care for patients with cancer and other chronic illnesses.3.List common conditions warranting palliative care in cancer survivors and in selected chronic diseases, along with appropriate therapies. Many clinicians equate palliative care with end-of-life care and consult palliative care teams only after transitioning from “curative” therapies to end-of-life care. Recent literature demonstrates numerous advantages when cancer patients with advanced stage disease receive palliative care from the onset of cancer diagnosis and throughout their illness spectrum. Less attention has been paid to the palliative care needs of cancer survivors or patients with other chronic diseases in every stage of their illness. Using cancer survivorship as a model, this session will explore the role of palliative care in chronic disease more broadly. The presenters will outline how principles from cancer survivorship and palliative care can be integrated within the care of other chronic diseases, such as neurological disease, renal, lung, or cardiac disease. They will review palliative care needs and treatment options throughout the continuum of care in chronic illness, including cancer survivorship. Models of collaboration between disease-oriented subspecialists, primary care clinicians, and palliative care teams will be highlighted, including strategies to facilitate optimal transition from “active treatment” by subspecialists back to longitudinal care by primary care clinicians with ongoing palliative care support. Common symptom complexes in cancer survivorship and chronic disease will be presented, along with interventions that palliative care teams can provide to support referring clinicians. The presenters include a palliative care physician with comprehensive primary care experience, a palliative care nurse practitioner with an extensive background in oncology nursing, and a psycho-oncologist specializing in cancer survivorship. The presentation will blend didactic materials, clinical case presentations, and facilitated audience participation.