A palliative care team addresses not only the physical complaints of a patient, but also the psychosocial, emotional, and spiritual needs. Patients feel more at home and better informed about their care. This leads to better patient satisfaction scores for the hospital.

Once patients are transitioned into an outpatient Palliative Care or hospice service, their symptoms are well managed by the providers outside of the hospital; thereby reducing the readmission rate.

By addressing all the needs of the patients, studies have shown that Palliative Care provides better patient experiences and outcomes with regard to quality of life index. It also shows the community that the hospital is interested in improving the quality of the experience for the patient and transition them to a better quality of life after their acute stay.

By addressing the physical, psychosocial, spiritual, and other needs of the patient, the Palliative Care team reduces the burden on the other hospital staff by acting as a bridge and a support system for them.

By having detailed family meetings, the Palliative Care team takes away the burden from the busy primary care provider who is in the clinic or doesn’t have time to dedicate to sit and discuss the clinical course or goals of care with the family members. This in turn would enhance referrals to your hospital by those clinical providers.

Expected Course of illness:

Palliative Care teams do educate patients regarding what to expect in the natural clinical course. This prepares patients and families for disposition plans right at the outset.

Goals of care and procedures:

Palliative Care teams have discussions regarding goals of care with the family to clarify what kind of procedures and interventions their loved ones would want to go through, including, but not limited to tracheostomy, PEG tube placement, surgical interventions and so on; so, these issues can be addressed ahead of time.

Code status discussion:

Palliative Care teams do discuss with patients and families regarding their code status. They are explained about the risks, benefits, and alternatives to mechanical ventilation and cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Often patients are unaware of the nature of CPR when they choose to be a ‘full code’, but do change their mind once they know the nature and possible outcomes of such aggressive interventions.

Transition into outpatient palliative care and hospice programs:

Often patients choose to go home or to a facility with Palliative Care or hospice services after they are educated about the nature of such services by the Palliative Care team. This reduces valuable days in the hospital where the patient would have continued to stay without being aware of the benefits these services can provide outside of the hospital.

Unfortunately, hospital mortality is a metric that seems unfair but all hospitals are held accountable to. When patients are transitioned into a hospice unit, the mortality does not count against the hospital. This seems to be mundane but the reality at this point. Transitioning patients who are wishing for comfort care or withdrawal of care into a general inpatient or outpatient hospice unit brings down the hospital mortality.