Palliative Care in Lung Disease

Book excerpt: This book details the benefits of palliative care to improve the lives of patients with serious lung disease and their caregivers. Palliative care is specialized medical care for people living with a serious illness. This type of care is focused on providing relief from the symptoms and stress of a serious illness, and is often described as “an extra layer of support” for patients and their caregivers, as patients with malignant and nonmalignant lung disease experience great symptom burden and have advanced care planning needs. This book has three main objectives: Define the role of palliative care in advanced lung disease Incorporate a patient-centered perspective in describing symptom burden and interventions to improve quality of life Provide current initiatives to expand evidence-based practice and improve access to palliative care Written by leading experts in palliative care and respiratory medicine, the chapters seek to answer those objectives by first defining and describing palliative care, advanced lung disease, and inadequate palliative care in this patient population. Patient reported outcomes, quality of life, and interventions to help deal with the psychological toll of serious illness are then detailed, as well as pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions for symptom management. Detailed information is additionally provided on current research studies and management for several lung diseases, including COPD, ILD, Lung Cancer, Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension, Neuromuscular disease, and pediatric lung disease. The more administrative aspects of palliative care programs are then covered with an example of a specialty palliative care program for advanced lung disease and advice on how to address policy that promotes palliative care. Finally, palliative care's role during a pandemic is thoughtfully considered. This book is an ideal guide for clinicians, nurses, hospital administrators, teachers, students to help them understand and fill unmet care needs that many patients with serious lung disease experience.