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Call for a Palliative Care Consultations

Palliative Care Medical Consultations

Palliative Care Buffalo offers medical consults and collaborates with the patient’s existing medical team. We serve patients of all ages with serious illness, as well as elderly patients with advanced, progressive diseases.

Where are Palliative Care Consults provided?

• Several area hospitals
• In the patient’s home (see Home Connections program)

Who can call for a consult?

• Physician, nurse practitioner or other healthcare provider
• Patient or family member for a Second Opinion consultation

Why should I request a consult?

Benefit to Patients

Together with Palliative Care Buffalo’s physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and social work professionals, Palliative Care Buffalo physicians provide:

• Comprehensive pain and symptom management
• Communication to help understand issues related to prognosis and coordination of care options
• Practical and emotional support for patients and families
• Support for re-evaluation of care and difficult decision-making

Benefit to Patients’ Family/Caregiver

• Identify and clarify the patient’s goals of care
• Assist with Advance Directives or Healthcare Proxy
• Provide caregiving guidance to the family
• Educates patient and family about disease progression

Benefit to Physicians

• Experts in managing complex physical and emotional symptoms
• Reduce stress with team approach to patient-centric care
• Save time by allowing us to handle family meetings and patient/family counseling
• Help in developing and supporting goals of care, DNR orders and treatment requests
• Coordination across all care settings
• Increased patient, family and caregiver satisfaction

Benefit to Hospitals

• Compliance with requirements of the Palliative Care Information Act
• Increased bed/ICU capacity
• Rationalized use of hospital resources leading to an improvement in a broad range of operating metrics; decreased length of stay
• Interdisciplinary approach that addresses the patient’s clinical and social needs
• Outpatient follow-up through Home Connections Palliative Care Program