Palliative Care

Palliative care can help people at any stage of a serious illness and may take place alongside medical treatment to cure the patient's disease. Examples of serious illness include, but are not limited to, cancer, liver disease, emphysema, heart failure, kidney failure and dementia. All patients can ask their doctors or nurses for a consultation with the Palliative Care Program.

In palliative care, our goal is simple: to help you feel as good as possible, for as long as possible.

Our Palliative Care Program:

• Helps patients enjoy the best possible quality of life by managing symptoms such as pain, shortness of breath, nausea, vomiting, fatigue and anxiety
• Educates families about non-drug interventions for reducing symptoms
• Helps patients and families make decisions consistent with what is most important to them
• Provides counseling and spiritual support for patients and families
• Facilitates communication about the illness process and options for care

Outpatient Services

Outpatient Palliative Care Service

The Outpatient Palliative Care Service serves patients with serious illnesses other than cancer, such as heart failure, chronic lung disease, kidney disease, liver failure and neurologic disease. Our team includes a physician, nurse, social worker and chaplain. Based on your needs, one or several of these providers may work with you. We see patients in the clinic, over videoconferencing or through home visits. Our team will partner closely with your other medical providers to help you feel more comfortable and supported.

Our location

400 Parnassus Ave., Eighth Floor
San Francisco, CA 94143
Phone: (415) 514-1966
Hours: M-F, 8:30 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Symptom Management Service (SMS)

SMS provides treatment and counseling for physical and emotional symptoms of cancer and cancer treatment. Assistance includes help with pain, fatigue, depression, anxiety, advance-care planning and spiritual issues. Treatments integrate medical, psychological, social work and spiritual approaches with regular cancer care. SMS coordinates this care with scheduled cancer treatments and with the support of patients' doctors.

Our locations

Bakar Precision Cancer Medicine Building
1825 Fourth St.
San Francisco, CA 94115
Phone: (415) 885-7671
Hours: M-F, 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

1600 Divisadero St, Fourth Floor
San Francisco, CA 94115
Phone: (415) 885-7671
Hours: M-F, 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

400 Parnassus Ave.
San Francisco, CA 94143
Phone: (415) 885-7671
Hours: M-F, 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

Inpatient Services

If you are hospitalized at Parnassus or Mission Bay, or have a loved one there, your doctors may collaborate with the inpatient palliative care consult team. The Parnassus team is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and the Mission Bay team is available five days a week. The team include a doctor, nurse, social worker and chaplain.

At Parnassus, we also have a unit with two comfort care suites that provide a more homelike setting for patients receiving end-of-life care and their families.

Research and Scholarly Activities

The Palliative Care Program also:

• Offers educational programs for resident physicians, medical students, fellows, professionals in fields related to palliative care, nursing students, faculty and staff
• Conducts research and quality improvement initiatives

Pediatric Palliative Care

For pediatric palliative care, please visit the Integrated Pain and Palliative Care (IP3) program at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital.

Recognition

The American Hospital Association's Circle of Life Award, which recognizes innovation in palliative and end-of-life care, honored the UCSF Palliative Care Program in 2007. The award is co-sponsored by the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging, American Medical Association, and National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, with support by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Donations

To learn how you can contribute to the UCSF Palliative Care Program, please contact Allison White at [email protected] or (415) 502-5868. You may also contribute online.