Palliative & Supportive Care
Whole-Person Palliative & Supportive Care —Comfort, Dignity, and Choice.
Symptom relief, psychosocial support, and goal-aligned care for patients and families facing serious illness.
Palliative & Supportive Care at Burjeel Medical City focuses on relief of pain, distressing symptoms, and psychosocial or spiritual stress related to serious illness. Services include inpatient consultation, dedicated outpatient clinic, embedded specialty-specific supportive-care pathways (oncology, heart failure, neurodegenerative disease), hospice liaison, and bereavement follow-up. Early palliative integration has been shown to improve survival, patient satisfaction, and caregiver well-being.
Common Conditions & Subspecialty Clinics.
- Individual and group grief counseling
- Memorial events and tribute services
- Screening for complicated grief risk
- Coordination with hospice providers
- Rapid discharge protocols for home hospice
- Supportive care for neonatal and pediatric patients
- Play therapy and age-appropriate interventions
- Family-focused counseling and coordination
- ALS, Parkinson’s disease, and dementia care
- Spasticity management and communication support
- Caregiver education and psychosocial support
- Dyspnea and anxiety control
- Addressing device-related quality-of-life issues
- Transition planning to hospice
- Embedded in multidisciplinary tumor boards
- Co-management of chemotherapy-induced side effects
- Advance-care and end-of-life discussions
- Chronic symptom control during survivorship
- Management of fatigue, cachexia, and chronic pain
- Symptom management (pain, dyspnea, nausea)
- Complex decision-making support
- Goals-of-care and code-status discussions
Procedures & Treatments.
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Fatigue & Insomnia
Energizing daytime routines, methylphenidate, sleep hygiene, melatonin
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Cachexia & Anorexia
Appetite stimulants, omega-3 supplementation, dietitian-guided high-calorie formulas
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Anxiety & Delirium
Low-dose antipsychotics, benzodiazepines, dexmedetomidine infusion protocols
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Nausea/Vomiting
Multi-mechanism anti-emetic algorithms, cannabinoid therapy
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Dyspnea Relief
Opioids, fan therapy, non-invasive ventilation, high-flow nasal oxygen
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Interventional Pain
Nerve blocks, intrathecal pumps (with Pain Service)
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Complex Pain Control
Opioid rotation, patient-controlled analgesia (PCA), methadone conversion, adjuvant neuropathic agents
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Advance-directive and electronic POLST documentation into EMR
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Family meetings facilitated by trained mediators
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Video-based decision aids for CPR and ventilation options
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Structured Serious Illness Conversation Guide
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Essential-Oil Aromatherapy for symptom relief
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Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) groups
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Massage & Reiki for pain and anxiety
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Music & Art Therapy
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Child-life specialists for pediatric-patient siblings
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Spiritual-care consults for meaning-centered therapy
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Financial and legal counseling via social work
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Respite-care planning and skill training
Care Pathway & Coordination.
Trigger & Referral
Automatic referral triggers (ESAS ≥ 4, ICU > 7 days, metastatic diagnosis) or clinician request.
Initial Assessment
Symptom inventory, psychosocial and spiritual screening, prognostic understanding.
Interdisciplinary Care Plan
Daily IDT huddle; goals prioritized by patient values.
Ongoing Management & Family Meetings
At least bi-weekly for outpatients; daily for inpatients as needed.
Transition Planning
Home-based palliative care vs. hospice; equipment and medication arrangements.
Bereavement Follow-Up
Risk assessment, grief counseling, and memorial service invitation.
Technology & Facilities.
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ESAS-ePRO Tablet System
Real-time patient-reported symptom scores integrated into EMR
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Virtual-Reality (VR) Relaxation Pods
Guided imagery for pain and anxiety reduction
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Dedicated Family Meeting Suites
Comfortable, private rooms with tele-conference capability
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24/7 Palliative-Care Hotline & Tele-Palliative Platform
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Smart-Pump PCA with RFID
for medication safety
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Aromatherapy & Music-Therapy Studio
within inpatient unit
