{"id":1181,"date":"2024-01-26T17:21:21","date_gmt":"2024-01-26T22:21:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/pcare\/?page_id=1181"},"modified":"2026-01-22T09:28:26","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T14:28:26","slug":"what-is-palliative-care","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/pcare\/about-palliative-care\/what-is-palliative-care\/","title":{"rendered":"What is Palliative Care?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"row  oscitas-bootstrap-container\">\n<div class=\"col-lg-8 col-md-8 col-xs-12 col-sm-8 oscitas-bootstrap-container\">\n<p>Palliative care is specialized medical care for people with serious illnesses. This type of care is focused on providing patients with relief from the symptoms, pain, and stress of a serious illness \u2013 whatever the diagnosis. The goal is to improve quality of life for both the patient and the family.<\/p>\n<p>Palliative care is provided by a team of doctors, nurses, and other specialists who work with a patient\u2019s other doctors to provide an extra layer of support. Palliative care is appropriate at any age and at any stage in a serious illness, and can be provided together with curative treatment. Read the UNC Palliative Care Brochure (at right) for more details.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"col-lg-4 col-md-4 col-xs-12 col-sm-4 oscitas-bootstrap-container\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/pcare\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/503\/2026\/01\/NEW-Palliative_Care_Bifold_Final.pdf\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-3892\" src=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/pcare\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/503\/2026\/01\/NEW-Palliative_Care_Bifold_Final-CROP-preview-for-web.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"172\" height=\"287\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/pcare\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/503\/2026\/01\/NEW-Palliative_Care_Bifold_Final-CROP-preview-for-web.png 401w, https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/pcare\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/503\/2026\/01\/NEW-Palliative_Care_Bifold_Final-CROP-preview-for-web-180x300.png 180w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 172px) 100vw, 172px\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<ul>\n<li>Palliative care is appropriate for patients who need help with pain, symptoms, suffering or distress at any stage of illness.<\/li>\n<li>Palliative care affirms life by supporting the patient and family\u2019s goals and hopes; palliative care neither hastens nor postpones death.<\/li>\n<li>Palliative care is an approach to treatment that emphasizes patients\u2019 goals and seeks to provide for comfort and quality of life.<\/li>\n<li>Palliative care promotes dignity throughout the course of illness, the dying process, and death.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><a class=\"btn btn-primary btn-lg  oscitas-bootstrap-container\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/getpalliativecare.org\/\">Learn more about Palliative Care at GetPalliativeCare.org<\/a>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Palliative care is appropriate for patients who need help with pain, symptoms, suffering or distress at any stage of illness. Palliative care affirms life by supporting the patient and family\u2019s goals and hopes; palliative care neither hastens nor postpones death. Palliative care is an approach to treatment that emphasizes patients\u2019 goals and seeks to provide &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/pcare\/about-palliative-care\/what-is-palliative-care\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about What is Palliative Care?\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":740,"featured_media":0,"parent":2,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"class_list":["post-1181","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","odd"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>What is Palliative Care? - Palliative Care &amp; Hospice Program<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/pcare\/about-palliative-care\/what-is-palliative-care\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What is Palliative Care? - Palliative Care &amp; Hospice Program\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Palliative care is appropriate for patients who need help with pain, symptoms, suffering or distress at any stage of illness. Palliative care affirms life by supporting the patient and family\u2019s goals and hopes; palliative care neither hastens nor postpones death. 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