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.