What is palliative care?

Palliative care is care given to improve the quality of life of patients who have a serious or life-threatening disease, such as cancer. The goal of palliative care is to prevent or treat, as early as possible, the symptoms and side effects of the disease and its treatment, in addition to the related psychological, social, and spiritual problems. The goal is not to cure. Palliative care is also called comfort care, supportive care, and symptom management.

When is palliative care used in cancer care?

Palliative care is given throughout a patient’s experience with cancer. It should begin at diagnosis and continue through treatment, follow-up care, and the end of life.

Ayusya Home Health Care Pvt Ltd, work with the aim of providing emotional support and the medical care our patients need, in dealing with long term medical problems. Our specialized palliative care program focuses on improving our client’s quality of life by providing clinical support services and home nursing services through a multidisciplinary team of health care professionals.
Palliative care sets out to treat or manage pain and other physical symptoms. Typically, it will also help with any psychological, social or spiritual needs. The objective of palliative care is to help the patient, and everyone affected by the patient’s illness, to achieve the best quality of life. The patient could receive palliative care along with other illness related treatments, such as chemotherapy or radiotherapy.

This program is structured to meet the physical and emotional needs of the client and the client’s family. The mix of services will be delivered by a team of nurses and doctors, designed to help manage the patient’s pain and alleviate family and caregiver’s stress. Our services include:

• Pain management
• Personal care
• Companionship support

Our team of health care professionals spend as much time as is required with the clients and family members, supporting them through every step of the way.
The program aims at treating people who are suffering from serious and chronic illnesses such as:

• Cancer
• Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)
• Congestive Heart Failure (CHF)
• Alzheimer’s Disease
• Kidney Failure
• Parkinson’s…and many more

The most common symptoms that are treated include pain, fatigue, nausea, shortness of breath, depression, difficulty in sleeping, appetite loss and constipation.
Palliative or hospice care can be given at home, assisted care living facilities, residential care facilities and in hospice residencies. This kind of care needs the assistance and treatment afforded by highly skilled and specially trained doctors, nursing staff and other specialists who work in tandem with the patient’s usual doctors, to give an additional layer of support to the patient and his family. Palliative care is relevant and appropriate, regardless of age and stage of treatment, and can be offered along with remedial treatment.

On-going treatment plans

• We train patients to do regular exercises using techniques such as electrotherapy
• We set up a care plan which involves short-term and long-term treatment goals
• We set goals for pain management so as to restore normal movement quickly

Types of physiotherapy

• Orthopedic physiotherapy
• Neurological physiotherapy
• Sports physiotherapy
• Postoperative physiotherapy
• Specialized manipulative physiotherapy
• Chest/cardiac physiotherapy