Palliative care consult service
Using a multi-disciplinary approach, members of the palliative care consult team provide advice on the best ways to alleviate any symptom (such as pain, difficulty in breathing, or nausea and vomiting) that an individual is experiencing. The team provides suggestions on appropriate interventions and helps clarify the goals of care. The service also helps patients and families plan for and manage the issues that arise when coping with a life-limiting disease. Appropriate patients requiring aggressive symptom management may be transferred to the Thomas Palliative Care Unit or followed by the consult team in other settings.
Patients and their families and physicians are encouraged to use the team as a resource. The team specializes in pain and symptom management, advanced planning and goal clarification (particularly in the face of a life-limiting disease), and assisting in decision-making regarding the transfer to the Thomas Palliative Care Unit.
There are three ways to initiate a palliative care consult
- Call tele-page 828-0951 from within the hospital and ask for the palliative care fellow
- Call the Thomas Palliative Care Unit at (804) 628-1295
- Enter a consult request into the Medical Center’s Cerner computer system, ordered as a “Palliative Care CNS consult” or “Pain CNS consult”
The core consult team includes:
- Attending physicians certified in palliative care
- Palliative care fellows
- Advanced practice nurses
The consult service is available Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Outside of these times, please contact the Thomas Palliative Care Unit directly or enter a consult request into the Cerner system as described above.
