Funanya Ikechukwu: You are listening to KVCR News, 91.9. My name is Funanya Ikechukwu. Are you prepared to navigate the health system if you or a family member receive a life altering diagnosis? In this episode with Dr McCowan of Riverside University Health System, aka R.U.H.S, we will discuss palliative care and the all-encompassing support it provides. Dr McCowan will dispel myths regarding palliative care and provide advice on how to navigate the complexities of care.
Dr. McCowan: A palliative care physician is actually a part of a team, a multi disciplinary team. Our care is a holistic sort of approach. There's a concept called total pain patients oftentimes just complain of a physical pain, but we try to make sure that there's no psychological component that is overbearing. We make sure that there is no social issues that may be feeding into this pain and spiritual as well, so once we incorporate all of those aspects of the person, then we're better able to manage their pain. The most common misconception that people have about palliative care is that it is essentially hospice and it is an end of life type of support, and that in itself, evokes negative responses, not only from physicians, but from patients and their families as well. The myth is a big one in terms of palliative care being an end of life service, we do so much more than that.
Funanya Ikechukwu: Receiving palliative care can be an emotional and taxing process. However, the palliative care team at RUHS provides support programs that range from musical therapy to spiritual support.
Dr. McCowan: Advanced care planning is extremely important for palliative care, and it involves a more protracted conversation about what's important to a patient, and then letting the patient and family know that this is what we expect to see down the road. Hopefully, if we've done our jobs well as providers of palliative care, there's really no preparation that they have to do if they just give us an opportunity to talk with them and sit with them and explain what we do. My experience suggests that that's sufficient for patients. Sometimes patients families come with a mindset and they don't want palliative care. It doesn't matter what you say. They just don't want that support. They're not ready for it. So we try to build hope. The hope is that we manage their symptoms. Hope says, let's get you out of this hospital so, or out of the current setting, and spend more time doing the things that you want to do. So here again, it's important to find out what is important to the patient. So we have on our service here, two physicians, two mid level providers. We have two social workers, we have a chaplain, we have a music therapist, and we have a psychologist. So some of the benefits of that patients and families report, caring is a big one. You know, it's amazing how powerful that is, just to know that someone is, that you are important to someone, especially to your provider. So we hear that, we hear about symptoms being managed. Their pain is decreased. They're feeling more energetic clarity in terms of their disease so that they can, you know, plan appropriately. Those are sort of things that we hear.
Funanya Ikechukwu: Dr McCowan shares the rewarding part of palliative care that keeps him motivated to provide the utmost care to all patients.
Dr. McCowan: It is extremely rewarding when the patient comes in with, let's use pain. Sometimes pain is so bad that you can't talk to the patient and all they can tell you that they hurt and the pain is 10. We only have a scale of pain of 1 to 10 patients will say, Oh its a 100 or a 1000. It's my job, then not to talk to them, but to get his pain under control, or her pain under control. But it's not only that, bringing clarity to about the patient's condition, to that patient and to the families. Families are extremely grateful for that, getting a pathway going forward for a patient that is terminal, and now they can not have to keep coming back to the hospital, and now they're in their bed at home doing what they want to do. Family and friends are coming by to visit them. So, you know, trying to to create those sort of situations for patients is extremely rewarding.
Funanya Ikechukwu: To learn more about palliative care services call the RUHS palliative care team at 951-486-8955, You can also visit ruhealth.org for more information. A big thank you to Dr McCowan for agreeing to this interview and to members of the RUHS public media team, Alexander Groves and Kerri Mabee. For KVCR News. This is Funanya Ikechukwu.
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Visit the website of ruhealth.org for more information.
To call Palliative Care Services dial (951) 486-8955.
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Funanya Ikechukwu, is a Biochemistry student at UC Riverside. Her first episode for KVCR was orchestrated through an R’ Course offered at UCR, and instructed by Allison Wang.