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The Massachusetts General Hospital Handbook of Behavioral Medicine pp 277–296Cite as

Early Palliative Care for Patients with Advanced Cancer

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Part of the book series: Current Clinical Psychiatry ((CCPSY))

Abstract

Patients with advanced cancers represent a particularly vulnerable population given their medical complexity, high symptom burden, often incurable prognosis, and need to make critical decisions about care at the end of life. Over the last decade, a new model of outpatient palliative care has shown great promise and efficacy in meeting these many challenges for patients and their families. Palliative care typically consists of a multidisciplinary team of physicians, nurses, social workers, and chaplains who provide services to enhance symptom management, psychosocial and spiritual support, and assistance with treatment decision-making for patients and families coping with serious illness. A number of clinical trials have demonstrated that outpatient palliative care, delivered simultaneously or integrated with oncology care from the time of diagnosis of advanced cancer, leads to improved quality of life, lower rates of depression, more accurate prognostic understanding, as well as less aggressive and higher quality care at the end of life. In this chapter, we (1) provide the rationale for delivering palliative care services early in the course of disease for patients diagnosed with advanced cancer, (2) review the evidence base for this new model of integrated palliative care, (3) highlight the key clinical interventions, and (4) describe a case example using the approach.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Psychiatric Oncology & Behavioral Sciences, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Yawkey Suite 10B, 55 Fruit Street, Boston, MA, 02114, USA

    Joseph A. Greer Ph.D.

  2. Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Harvard Medical School, 55 Fruit Street, Boston, MA, 02114, USA

    Vicki A. Jackson, Juliet C. Jacobsen, William F. Pirl & Jennifer S. Temel

Authors
  1. Joseph A. Greer Ph.D.
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  2. Vicki A. Jackson
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  3. Juliet C. Jacobsen
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  4. William F. Pirl
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  5. Jennifer S. Temel
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Joseph A. Greer Ph.D. .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry Behavioral Medicine Service, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Ana-Maria Vranceanu

  2. Dept. of Psychiatric Oncology & Behavior, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Ce, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Joseph A. Greer

  3. Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Steven A. Safren

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Greer, J.A., Jackson, V.A., Jacobsen, J.C., Pirl, W.F., Temel, J.S. (2017). Early Palliative Care for Patients with Advanced Cancer. In: Vranceanu, AM., Greer, J., Safren, S. (eds) The Massachusetts General Hospital Handbook of Behavioral Medicine. Current Clinical Psychiatry. Humana Press, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29294-6_13

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29294-6_13

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  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-29292-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-29294-6

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