Vision of palliative care

What does the Palliative Support Team do?

Patients who are incurably ill, as well as their family members, can call on the Palliative Support Team (PST). This team consists of a doctor, two psychologists, two nurses, a pastor and a social nurse, all specializing in palliative care.

When treatments aimed at healing are no longer possible, the Palliative Support Team seeks the most optimal comfort care. What this comfort care entails is discussed with the patient and their loved ones; the doctor, nurse, psychologist and social worker caring for the patient also have a say. In doing so, the team strives for the best possible physical care and optimal pain and symptom control, with much attention to the emotional and spiritual experience.

Support

The Palliative Support Team also supports the patient and his family in their process of loss experiences: loss of health, work status, partner role and/or role in the family, changes in appearance, financial consequences, diminishing circle of friends...  

The team can also provide support for important ethical decisions in the care process. Ethical questions surrounding the approaching end of life, such as stopping treatments, palliative sedation and euthanasia can be discussed. The same goes for written living wills.

The opinions of the Palliative Support Team are always communicated to the attending physician, as he/she retains ultimate responsibility for care. Palliative patients are cared for on the ward by the attending team of physician(s) and nurses. Through interdisciplinary cooperation, much attention is paid to communication and information transfer between the various caregivers, the patient and his family. During counseling, we pay special attention to the children and teenagers involved.

The Palliative Support Team also works closely with the palliative care units and palliative home care teams to allow critically ill patients to stay in the most desirable and appropriate place at the end of life. For a seamless transition of care when a palliative patient is discharged, the Palliative Support Team actively collaborates with home care:

• The primary care physician
• The home health nurses and other paramedics
• The home care services
• Pallion (the palliative limburg support sequence)
• Panal (palliative network district Leuven)

Who is who?

The Palliative Support Team consists of:

• dr. Jolanda Verheezen, oncologist and palliative physician
• Wendy Thewis, palliative nurse
• Hilde Severijns and Stephanie Macoy, clinical psychologists
• Madeleine Burghoorn, pastor
• Marijke Vanderspikken, social nurse.