Palliative Care

The palliative care experts at UAB St. Vincent’s help improve the comfort and quality of life for people with serious or life-threatening illnesses. We care for the whole person, including managing symptoms and side effects from treatments, treating pain flare-ups, and helping patients cope with mental and emotional issues they may face.

Palliative care is not the same as hospice care. Both are designed to increase comfort, but hospice care is focused on comfort for patients with a terminal illness, when medical treatments are no longer desired.

Palliative care is an option for people at any age and at any stage of an illness. We help patients feel better by improving symptoms such as pain, fatigue, nausea, anxiety, depression, shortness of breath, and loss of appetite.

Our services

Your care team may include palliative care doctors and advanced practice providers, as well as specialized nurses, social workers, and chaplains. The services they provide include:

• Coordinating emotional, physical, and spiritual care
• Assistance with advance care planning
• Supporting recovery after surgery
• Caregiver support and resources

Palliative care may be provided in the hospital, a clinic setting, through telehealth, while recovering at home, or in a skilled nursing facility. It is not a standalone treatment plan.

We provide palliative care for a wide range of conditions, including:

• Brain, spine, and nervous system disorders, such as ALS, dementia, and Parkinson’s disease
• Cancer
• Heart failure
• Kidney failure
• Liver failure
• Lung disease

Team approach

We coordinate care with your primary and specialty care doctors, as well as your home health care or hospice care team. We understand that your family and other caregivers are an important part of your care team, so we provide supportive care and resources to help them cope with stress and other challenges.

Follow-up care after discharge

Your doctor and discharge nurse at the hospital will connect you with services that support your follow-up care at home or your next care facility. In addition to palliative care, these services may include remote patient monitoring, outpatient respiratory and rehabilitation therapy, cardiac rehabilitation, and wound care.