Click here for: ProGrESS PCS: Program for Growth, Enhancement, Sustainability, and Success of Palliative Care Services *** Palliative care is an interdisciplinary specialty that aims to relieve suffering and improve quality of life for patients with advanced illness, and their families. Its goal is to maximize patients’ dignity and comfort when they are in the advanced stages of illness. It is provided simultaneously with all other appropriate medical treatment.  UCSF’s Palliative Care Service (PCS) provides interdisciplinary consultation at the request of an attending physician for patients with advanced illness regarding issues of symptom control, communication about goals of care, or referral to community resources such as hospice. Recently, the UCSF Palliative Care Program received the prestigious Circle of Life award, which honors innovative and exemplary palliative care programs. Our 10 faculty attending physicians on the Palliative Care Service are from a wide variety of disciplines including hospital medicine, general internal medicine, geriatrics, family medicine, and oncology.  Our interdisciplinary team includes physicians, nurses, social workers, chaplains, and pharmacists who together provide care to patients, and support program development, education, and research. The PCS is available to: Work with the ward team to provide consultation about management and education Provide bedside consultation with patients and families at the request of the attending physician Assess patients and arrange transfer to the Comfort Care Suites Attend to the reactions of providers and staff after a patient's death        Appropriate reasons to consult the Palliative Care Service include: Refractory symptoms including pain, dyspnea, nausea, anxiety Frequent ED visits or hospital admissions for same diagnosis Prolonged length of stay (7-14 days) without evidence of improvement Prolonged ICU LOS (> 7 days) without evidence of improvement or with poor prognosis Team/patient/family needs help with complex decision making and determination of goals of care Assistance determining hospice eligibility and educating about hospice Unaddressed spiritual or psychosocial issues   If you have questions about the PCS, please contact Steve Pantilat, MD, at 415-502-6861.