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Palliative Care vs. Hospice: What’s the Difference?
I recently attended an online seminar for people with Parkinson’s disease, which discussed the differences between palliative care and hospice. In many ways, they are vastly different, yet there’s some overlap, too.
Let’s dig in!
Palliative care involves aiding people with serious illnesses to improve their quality of life as they themselves see it. It often brings together family members and a team of specialists (doctors, nurses, pharmacists, chaplains or other religious personnel) who collaborate on what medical treatments and other interventions are suitable for this particular patient. The focus is on quality of life: physical, psychological, spiritual, and social.
Palliative care offers the patient control over symptoms like pain, anxiety, and “existential suffering.” It also starts the patient and her/his family members talking about what’s most important right now and down the line if/as the illness worsens. What are the options going forward?
Hospice care takes place when the patient’s condition is terminal. Patients and family members understand that the patient probably has six months or less before death takes over. The focus is solely on comfort and often occurs in the patient’s home, assisted by nursing professionals. Life-prolonging therapies and controlling the disease are off the table. Usually, someone on the hospice team helps the patient and family members understand and come to terms with the final stages of the illness and related end-of-life issues.
Where’s the overlap? Both palliative care and hospice provide an extra layer of support to maximize quality of life, and both try to help the patient and family members understand and cope with serious illness and often end of life.
I guess it’s good to know these things. But I hope both are a long way off for me!
Thanks for the summary. Whether ill or not, we are all headed toward our end of life. Good to know the patient-care options
This is really helpful information! Thank you for opening this important conversation about Palliative care. There is so much misinformation and, in fact, a huge lack of information about Palliative care and the difference between that and Hospice. Thank you!
Definitions
The definition of hospice care is compassionate comfort care (as opposed to curative care) for people facing a terminal illness with a prognosis of six months or less, based on their physician’s assessment of whether the illness is progressing as expected. The definition of palliative care is compassionate comfort care that provides relief from symptoms and physical and mental stress in a serious or life-limiting illness. Palliative care can be continued at diagnosis, during curative treatment and follow-up and at the end of life.
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I know that Medicare offers Hospice care, but I have not heard of how to access palliative care. As Henry, above, states, we will all pass sometime. It’s very good to know about these options. Thanks.