Supportive and Palliative Care

The Supportive and Palliative Care team at UI Health Care provides compassionate care and support to patients and their families through their serious illness.

For all requests:

1-319-356-8133

For all other requests:: 1-800-777-8442

Donate to the Supportive and Palliative Care Fund

Find Pediatric Care

The Supportive and Palliative Care team is here to support patients and families living with serious illness. Whether an illness is curable, chronic, or life-threatening, our team works alongside your University of Iowa Health Care providers to focus on comfort, symptom relief, and your personal health care goals.

Supportive and palliative care is guided by your needs rather than your prognosis and is appropriate at any age or stage of illness. It can also be provided alongside curative treatments. Our goal is to improve quality of life for both you and your family throughout your illness.

Comprehensive, interdisciplinary care

Our Supportive and Palliative Care team works together to support your physical, emotional, and spiritual needs. It's comprised of doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, social workers, music therapists, chaplains (such as a priest or pastor), and trained volunteers.

Each member plays a role in providing compassionate, well-coordinated care that is centered on what matters most to you. They will:

Help you understand your illness and the choices you have
Support your health care decisions
Help with cancer pain and other symptoms
Give emotional, social, and spiritual support
Give comfort
Help lessen your fear, worries, and grief
Protect your dignity
Focus on your and your family’s goals

In addition to our Supportive and Palliative Care Clinic, we also work on a consultative basis with departments throughout our health care system, including intensive care units, emergency departments, and inpatient units

Supportive and palliative care services

We offer both inpatient and outpatient services for UI Health Care patients who have been referred for supportive or palliative care.

Inpatient care

Working closely with the rest of your care team, our interdisciplinary team provides comprehensive support tailored to your needs. Our inpatient unit offers a quiet, home-like setting where you and your family can talk about future plans, reflect, and share meaningful moments together, supported by our compassionate staff.

Inpatient services include:

Managing and treating symptoms such as pain, nausea, vomiting, and shortness of breath due to a serious illness.
Providing emotional and spiritual support.
Helping patients and their families understand and navigate their care process.
Helping in determining the goals of care and treatments that are aligned with the patient's wishes.

Outpatient care

Our outpatient team includes palliative care physicians and pharmacists who are specially trained in palliative medicine. Working closely with your medical providers, they offer an extra layer of support focused on symptom management, medication guidance, and helping align care with your goals.

Outpatient services include:

Relief from pain and other uncomfortable symptoms due to a serious illness.
Assistance in making difficult medical decisions.
Help you communicate your treatment goals and plans to the rest of your health care team.
Guidance in planning for living well, based on your needs, concerns, and goals for care.

Information for donors

Gifts to our Supportive and Palliative Care program provide resources for our physicians, nurse practitioners, nurses, and staff to further their education in palliative medicine and enhance the experience of our patients and families.

To make a gift to honor the memory of your loved one, please contact Hayden Bevelacqua with the University of Iowa Center for Advancement.