How should we support patients with life-limiting illness and their families? How do we ensure timely access to care in patients’ homes? How should we guide patients and their families through their final chapter with care and sympathy? To address those issues, on February 13, the Physician-Nurse Collaborative Clinic of PUMCH’s Palliative Medicine Center officially launched. This collaborative model of care, involving nursing professionals, aims to improve the quality of life for patients with terminal illness by accompanying them and their family in building an optimal system of caring.

▲The Doctor-nurse Joint Clinic under the Palliative Medicine Center seeing a patient

Seriously ill patients and their families often face many care needs. The Physician-Nurse Collaborative Clinic at the Palliative Medicine Center can provide guidance on wound management (e.g. malignant wounds, pressure sores, etc), comfort nursing care (e.g. home-based care, end-of-life care), and assessment and management of complex symptoms (e.g. pain, abdominal distention, loss of appetite and others). The clinic also provides critically ill and end-of-life patients and their families with emotional and communication support, helping patients and families navigate high-stakes medical decisions, such as providing home-based palliative care, end-of-life care, and decisions around CPR, intubation, urinary catheter insertion, and gastrostomy, among others.

To address patients’ and their families’ concerns in a convenient and timely manner, PUMCH’s Palliative Medicine Center anticipates scheduling the Hospice and Palliative Care Clinic and the Physician-Nurse Collaborative Clinic on the same day. This will ensure that patients can address their medical and nursing needs in a centralized location. These innovations speak to the commitment of PUMCH to their patients. In addition, online consultation is also available for ongoing follow-up, giving patients and their families additional peace of mind.

A friendly reminder

Appointment time slots and venues

Dongdan Campus: Department of Internal Medicine, second floor of Outpatient Building, Thursday morning

Xidan Campus: general services, second floor of Outpatient Building, Monday morning

Registration steps

Download the PUMCH app, register an account and create a profile on the home page, and then follow the steps shown below.

Dongdan Campus

Xidan Campus