Led by faculty from the College of Nursing on behalf of the health sciences colleges and welcoming participation from colleges campus-wide, the Center for Palliative Care Research and Education focuses on research and education to improve palliative care for persons and animals throughout Florida, across the nation, and all around the world. The palliative care philosophy values, respects, and supports individual dignity and autonomy and recognizes the need for informed decision making to achieve comfort and relieve stress during and after serious illness.
The intent of palliative care is to improve quality of life, as defined by the patient with serious or life-threatening disease. The goal of palliative care is to prevent or treat, as early as possible, the symptoms and side effects of the disease and its treatment, as well as the related psychological, social, and spiritual problems. The goal of palliative care is not to cure the serious disease and is provided throughout a patient’s experience with disease. Palliative care should begin at diagnosis and continue through treatment, follow-up care, and the end of life. Palliative care is provided to people and animals in a patient-centered manner that is also family-focused and, if death occurs, continues as bereavement care to support the family through the grieving process.