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Palliative Medicine & Supportive Care
Palliative Care:
Palliative Care is the provision of active, comprehensive, compassionate care of
patients/families who are living with a life-threatening illness. In the
provision of palliative care attention is directed towards pain and symptom
control, psychological, emotional, social, informational and spiritual
concerns. The goal of palliative care is achievement of the best possible
quality of life for patients and their families. Palliative Care should be
available at any time during the illness and bereavement.
Supportive Care:
Supportive Care is the provision of the necessary services as defined by those
living with or affected by cancer to meet their physical, psychosocial,
informational and spiritual needs during the pre-diagnostic, diagnostic,
treatment and follow-up phases, encompassing issues of survivorship, palliation
and bereavement.
The Palliative Care Medicine Program
Clinical
The Palliative Care Medicine Program addresses issues of pain and symptom
management, psychosocial distress, and end-of-life care for the population of
Southeastern Ontario. In-patient consultative services are provided at the
Kingston General and St. Mary’s of the Lake Hospitals. Out-patient consultative
services for cancer patients are available through the Cancer Centre of
Southeastern Ontario. The Program also offers telephone consultative services
for community physicians throughout the region. The Program provides primary
palliative care for six designated beds at St. Mary’s of the Lake and community
patients requiring enhanced palliative skills. Primary care for palliative care
patients in the community is provided if the family physician is unable to
provide the service and requests our assistance. A palliative care medicine
physician is available 24 hours a day and 7 days a week to provide telephone
consultation for physicians.
Education
Undergraduate The Palliative Care Medicine Program participates in the
undergraduate medical curriculum through presentations on pain and symptom
management in patients at the end-of-life, case discussions, and involvement of
students with home palliative visits. Experiences related to the provision of
care for patients with cancer are offered through the Cancer Centre of
Southeastern Ontario out-patient palliative clinics. The Program contributes
further, when possible, to the undergraduate program through clinical skills
and clinical clerkship supervision, and in other undergraduate courses, such as
Critical Appraisal.
Postgraduate
The Palliative Care Medicine Program is responsible for the one-year conjointly
accredited Palliative Medicine Residency Program. The Program provides teaching
and supervision for residents from Family Medicine, Oncology, and other
programs who spend block rotations in palliative care. Weekly Palliative
Medicine Academic Rounds are offered and the Program participates in various
educational sessions as part of the Departments of Oncology, Medicine, and
Family Medicine.
CME/Professional Development
The Palliative Care Medicine Program provides accredited continuing medical
education courses for family physicians, and others, on palliative care topics.
It is involved in the Palliative Care Integration Project to improve the
standards of care for palliative patients in the region.
Research
Research involvement is collaborative especially with the Departments of
Oncology, Medicine, and Clinical Epidemiology. The Program is closely
affiliated with the Division of Cancer Care and Epidemiology at the Queen’s
Cancer Research Institute. Areas of interest are symptom management and health
services research.
Leadership/Management/Administration
Internally, the Program participates in a number of working groups, committees,
and advisory groups within hospitals and associated with the Departments of
Oncology, Medicine, and Family Medicine. It also functions in a number of roles
on committees and working groups at Queen’s University and the Queen’s Cancer
Research Institute. Externally, membership on national and provincial
palliative care committees and initiatives demonstrates commitment to the
educational, research, and leadership roles of the Service.
The Palliative Care Medicine Program website is
meds.queensu.ca/~palcare/index.html
The Palliative Medicine and Supportive Care Program
The Palliative Medicine and Supportive Care Program is a team of palliative
medicine doctors, nurses, social workers, physiotherapists, spiritual care
workers, psychiatrists, pharmacists, dietitians, and dedicated volunteers. The
Program offers assistance with pain and symptom management, psychosocial,
nutritional, and home care needs for patients coming to the Cancer Centre of
Southeastern Ontario or who are admitted to the Kingston General Hospital. The
Cancer Centre has four half-day Palliative Medicine Clinics every week.
The Palliative Medicine and Supportive Care Program works to give cancer
patients and their families appropriate and timely palliative and supportive
care. The Program’s goal is to improve the quality of palliative care for
patients by using assessment tools like the Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale
(ESAS) which helps team members to know how patients are feeling (ESAS), and
Collaborative Care Plans and Symptom Management Guidelines developed by the
regional Palliative Care Integration Project.
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