Top Ten Tips Palliative Care Clinicians Should Know About Caring for People with Interstitial Lung Diseases
Interstitial lung diseases (ILD) represent a heterogenous group of illnesses with significant multidimensional suffering and varied prognoses. Integration of palliative care (PC), though beneficial, is limited for this group of individuals. The complex care needs of people with ILD and their caregivers are underrecognized and incompletely addressed. This gap necessitates shared care by a multidisciplinary team along the illness trajectory. PC clinicians need to understand the illness patterns, prognoses, therapeutic options including lung transplant, symptom management, and other supportive interventions in ILD care. This article distills the current evidence into 10 practical tips to assist PC clinicians in delivering comprehensive care to people with ILD. These tips have been compiled by a multidisciplinary and interprofessional group consisting of pulmonologists, intensivists, academic clinicians, policy makers, physicians, nurses, and psychologists from specialist PC teams. Well-informed PC teams can significantly influence the illness experience of individuals with ILD and their caregivers, thereby reducing serious health-related suffering.
Authors
- Matthew M Maddocks (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0189-0952)
- Jyothsna Kuriakose (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6794-4952)
- Anand Iyer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7700-0728)
- Jenifer Jeba Sundararaj (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7200-4452)
- Natalia Smirnova (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2964-2512)
- Christopher A. Jones (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5165-7753)
- Kathleen Lindell
- Rachel Hadler
- Russell Portenoy
- Barney Isaac
- Jacopo D’Andria Ursoleo
- Balamugesh Thangakunam
- Smriti Rana
- Anne-Marie Russell
- Sarah Mohammed
- M. R. Rajagopal
- Donald R. Sullivan
- Natasha Smallwood
Institutions
- University of Maryland, Baltimore (US)
- Birmingham City University (GB)
- Albert Einstein College of Medicine (US)
- Emory University (US)
- Medical University of South Carolina (US)
- Vita-Salute San Raffaele University (IT)
- Oregon Health & Science University (US)
- Duke University (US)
- Christian Medical College, Vellore (IN)
- King's College London (GB)
- Queen's University (CA)
- VicRoads (AU)
- African Palliative Care Association (UG)
- Pallium India (IN)
- The Alfred Hospital (AU)
- University College Birmingham (GB)
- University of Alabama at Birmingham (US)
- Melbourne Bioinformatics (AU)
- Monash Alfred Psychiatry Research centre (AU)
- Birmingham VA Medical Center (US)
- Cicely Saunders International (GB)
- Istituti di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico (IT)
- Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico San Raffaele (IT)
- Monash University (AU)
- Cardiff University (GB)
- University of Birmingham (GB)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Journal of Palliative Medicine
- Published
- 2026-09-04
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1177/10966218261484821
- Primary Topic
- Interstitial Lung Diseases and Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00