Improving quality in colon and rectal surgery through palliative care

Emily B Rivet; Travis Sullivan; Danielle Noreika

doi:10.1016/j.scrs.2020.100783

Improving quality in colon and rectal surgery through palliative care

Semin Colon Rectal Surg. 2020 Nov;31(4):100783. doi: 10.1016/j.scrs.2020.100783. Epub 2020 Oct 2.

Authors

Emily B Rivet¹, Travis Sullivan², Danielle Noreika³

Affiliations

¹ Assistant Professor, Department of Surgery and Department of Internal Medicine, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia USA.
² Resident Physician, Department of Surgery, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia USA.
³ Associate Professor, Department of Internal Medicine, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia USA.

Abstract

Palliative care is a medical discipline that emphasizes quality of life and can be provided in parallel with recovery-directed treatments in colon and rectal surgery. Palliative care is receiving increasing attention and investigation for its potential to improve quality and outcomes for a wide spectrum of patients by benefiting symptom management, supporting complex health care decision making and facilitating care transitions. Primary palliative care refers to the application of palliative care principles by clinicians of all disciplines whereas specialty palliative care is a multidisciplinary approach and includes a clinician with advanced training and experience.

Keywords: Colon and rectal; End of life; Pain; Palliative care.