UNC Palliative Care

Dealing with a serious illness is challenging on your body, mind and spirit. At UNC Healthcare, our palliative care team can help you find much-needed relief from the symptoms, pain and stress of your serious illness, as well as the side effects of your treatments. Palliative Care services focus on improving your quality of life.

Services are provided while patients are seeking aggressive treatment for their primary illness. Our care provides an extra layer of support, along with your current treatment and care team.

This specialized medical care can be provided no matter what your diagnosis is. Palliative care can be helpful to patients and their loved ones during all stages of an illness. Palliative care services are covered under Medicare, Medicaid and most private insurance providers.

Who Needs Palliative Care?

Palliative care may be a good fit for you if:

• Your quality of life is suffering because of an illness
• Your condition has worsened despite ongoing treatment
• You rely more on family and friends for extra help
• You need help understanding your options for care
• Trips to the doctor’s office or emergency room are happening more frequently
• You are confused about your options or feel that the information given to you by your care team is hard to understand

Palliative care is different from hospice care. Given at the same time as your other treatments, anyone living with a chronic or serious illness can benefit from palliative care.

Palliative care can also benefit your family and other caregivers. Often families can become overwhelmed when taking care of someone with a serious illness. Receiving palliative care allows your family to focus on supporting you emotionally and allows your current medical team to focus on treating your illness.

A Diverse Care Team

You will receive care provided by a team of experts, which may include specially trained doctors, nurse practitioners, registered nurses, licensed clinical social worker, chaplain and other healthcare professionals.

Palliative Care Services

During our visits, we will discuss and help you with:

• Symptoms that may bother you
• Medications
• Your overall health
• What is important to you when making medical decisions

Where Can I Get Palliative Care?

You can get palliative care in the hospital, or in an out-patient clinic.