Palliative Care Services

What services does the OHSU Palliative Medicine and Comfort Care Team provide?

We can provide enhanced communication between you, your family and your medical team, help in making difficult medical decisions at any stage of illness, emotional and spiritual support and expert treatment of symptoms, such as:

Pain
Shortness of breath
Constipation
Nausea
Trouble sleeping
Loss of appetite

We welcome questions from patients and their family members. Ask your doctor for a referral for palliative care services. Our team is available Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Who benefits from palliative care?

Patients and families who

Need assistance making complex medical decisions
Need help understanding their condition or prognosis
Will have complex needs when they leave the hospital
Have a long, complex hospital stay
Have a recent diagnosis of a serious illness
Have a complex illness with many hospital stays
Experience uncontrolled discomfort or other symptoms

How does palliative care differ from hospice care?

The Palliative Medicine and Comfort Care Team works in the hospital and can provide guidance during any phase of illness. Hospice is a program of services that allows a dying person to remain at home or in a home-like setting for the last weeks and months of life. The Palliative Care Team can help with the transition to hospice care, if needed.

What is comfort care?

Comfort care strives to ensure comfort for patients and families in the last days to hours of life.

Palliative Medicine and Comfort Care Team

	Erik Fromme, M.D., M.C.R., F.A.A.H.P.M. Medical Director Associate Professor of Medicine, Radiation Medicine, and Nursing
	Tiffany Culbertson, R.N., M.S.N., A.N.P.-B.C. Palliative Care Clinical Nurse Specialist
	Mary Denise Smith, R.N., C.N.S., A.C.H.P.C.N. Palliative Care Clinical Nurse Specialist Instructor School of Nursing and Medicine
	Eric Walsh, M.D. Palliative Care Physician Associate Professor of Family Medicine and Hematology and Medical Oncology
	Terri Schmidt, M.D., M.S. Palliative Care Physician Professor of Emergency Medicine
	Susan Yoder, R.N., B.S.N. Program Administrator Director, Department of Patient Relations