Palliative Medicine Helps Patients Have Quality of Life
 hen people are faced with an illness such as cancer and the difficulties treatment can bring, quality of life becomes a major issue. That's where palliative medicine, or pain management, can help. Palliative medicine is specialized treatment designed to relieve or reduce symptoms of an illness. It helps patients live more comfortably with their illness by focusing on their physical, social, emotional, psychological, and spiritual needs.
 Palliative medicine is available to all patients with a life-threatening illness and complex, poorly controlled symptoms. These symptoms include pain, nausea and vomiting, shortness of breath, restlessness, and loss of appetite. Patients with an advanced terminal illness most often request palliative care; however, this specialized treatment may often be helpful to patients receiving curative treatments.
Other than pain management, palliative medicine encompasses a variety of additional services such as:
- Inpatient consultation – focuses on the control of pain and other symptoms to assist in the comfort of hospitalized patients.
- Outpatient clinic – provides consultation for new patients and the follow-up of patients, including those discharged from the hospital.
- Hospice referral – assists patients in determining whether a home hospice or residential hospice is the best option.
- Patient and family education – provides information that patient and family members want to know such as understanding their medical situation, coping with illness, and emotional and physical support. Referrals are also provided to community agencies for additional help and resources.
Covenant Health has several physicians board certified in palliative medicine. Dr. John D. Cowan, founder of Palliative Medicine of East Tennessee, practices palliative medicine at the Thompson Cancer Survival Center and Blount Memorial Hospital. Drs. J. Randall Thomas, Ronald Lands, and John Foust are medical oncologists board certified in palliative medicine who practice at Thompson Cancer Survival Center at Methodist in Oak Ridge.
For additional information on palliative medicine, please contact Palliative Medicine of East Tennessee at (865) 541-2060 or Thompson Cancer Survival Center at Methodist at (865) 481-1871.
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