Table 2.

Fundamental Values and Principles of Palliative Care in Serious Respiratory Illness

1. All patients with serious respiratory illness are eligible for palliative care on the basis of needs and should have equitable access, regardless of demographic characteristics (e.g., race/ethnicity, LGBTQIA+, age, sex, houselessness, and citizenship status), geographic area of residence, stage of illness, or insurance status. 2. Primary and secondary or specialist palliative care should be provided throughout the course of the illness when needs arise, integrated with illness-directed treatment, and should not be limited to patients in the final months or weeks of life. 3. Palliative care approaches include assessment and management of physical, psychosocial, ethical, and spiritual/existential domains; therefore, this care should be interprofessional and engage all available and relevant disciplines. 4. Palliative care communications should be provided in the preferred language/linguistic style of patients and their caregivers, partners, or family. 5. Pulmonary and critical care clinicians should prioritize the development and ongoing maintenance of primary palliative care knowledge and skills. 6. Pulmonary and critical care professional societies should encourage a basic degree of primary palliative care knowledge and skill development among its members, which may include approaches such as serious illness communication and symptom assessment and management. 7. Policies and payment models that provide resources to facilitate palliative care delivery, including the provision of primary palliative care, are essential. 8. Palliative care should be included in healthcare disaster and pandemic planning and preparedness activities as part of local, regional, state, and federal disaster planning efforts. 9. Patients with their informal caregivers, partners, or family together are the principal unit of care to be identified, acknowledged, and effectively supported. 10. Pulmonary and critical care and palliative care professional societies should support research, training, and professional education to improve the provision of palliative care among patients with serious respiratory illness.