BUMC Basics.pdf - Anesthesia Home

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consult include assistance with controlling a patient’s symptom
burden, guidance with the often difficult planning and
conversations associated with decisions near the end of life,
spiritual support for patients and their families, and
complimentary therapies. Consults for the Palliative Care
Consult Service (PCCS) are easily obtained by calling 214-
820-PCCS (7227). Routine consults are handled 7 days a
week primarily between 8:30 and 4:30. True palliative care
emergencies may be called in after hours but must be called in
directly by the physician requesting emergency assistance.
Physician team members
• Dr. Robert Fine
• Dr. Mark Casanova
• Dr. Shawnta Pittman-Hobbs
• Dr. Roberto De La Cruz
• Dr. Susan Kohl
Palliative Care nurses
• Min Patel — weekdays (available at 214-497-2612)
• Grace Youseff — weekends (available at 214-724-
5623)
Palliative Care Pharmacist
Jennifer Craft — weekdays
Pain control tidbits
• There is ample evidence that pain is under treated in
American hospitals. Among the barriers to effective pain
management are failure to adequately assess the pain
and failures to prescribe opioids and other pain
medications appropriately.
• Basic pain assessment should always include a pain
severity score. Remember that pain is subjective and a
patient’s pain is what they say it is. Baylor uses a 0 – 10
scale where 0 is no pain at all and 10 is the worst pain
ever or the worst imaginable to the patient. Some patients
may not be able to put a number on their pain. If not, they
should be encouraged to rate the pain as mild, moderate,
or severe.
• Acute and/or intermittent pain requires rapid onset short
acting opioids. The onset of action for these drugs is 5-10
minutes when given IV and 30- 60 minutes when given
orally. Typical duration of action is 3 to 4 hours. Some
commonly used short acting oral opioids include
hydrocodone, immediate release morphine, immediate