Palliative Care in the Emergency Center

Palliative care is a relatively new discipline in medicine that focuses on the assessment and management of suffering in patients with advanced illnesses such as cancer. The field of oncologic emergency medicine is also an emerging discipline that focuses on emergency medical care for a unique patient population that differs substantially from the general emergency medicine population. In this chapter, we review the general principles of palliative care as it applies to the emergency care of cancer patients, specifically, those with advanced cancer. This chapter is not intended to be a comprehensive review. Rather, the goal is to provide the reader with a practical, general overview of common palliative care issues. Topics covered in this chapter include pain management, fatigue and weakness, anorexia and cachexia, ethics, communication, and interdisciplinary palliative care teams.