Hospice care teams provide people with comfortable care if they have a life-limiting illness.
If a disease has no cure, hospice care becomes a care option. When people face the end of their lives, the shift from healing treatments can be challenging and distressing.
Read on for more information on hospice care, and how it differs from palliative care.
Hospice care is for people who are in the final stages of an incurable illness. The aim is to ensure they are comfortable, and able to live their last days as fully as possible.
Hospice care professionals do not cure diseases. Instead, they treat a person’s symptoms to improve their quality of life. They also aim to include family members and caregivers in decisions that affect a person’s care.
People can receive hospice care within the following settings:
- at home
- in the hospital
- at an extended care facility, such as a nursing home
- at a specialized hospice center
However, hospice care most commonly occurs at home.
Hospice care is not just for people with incurable cancer. It may benefit people with late-stage kidney, lung, and heart disease, and those with advanced neurological conditions, such as Alzheimer’s disease.
Hospice care
A qualified hospice doctor and a person’s primary care doctor need to certify whether they meet the criteria for hospice care. It may be time for hospice care if a person:
- has fewer than 6 months to live
- is not seeing improvements to their health after treatment, and their quality of life rapidly declines
- decides to stop treatments to prolong their life
A person may live longer than 6 months and continue to receive hospice care, if a doctor recertifies them.
According to the
A study from 2007 found that 10% of people receive hospice care too late. Late referrals often result in patient dissatisfaction and other unmet needs.
Researchers also suggest families of those who have a shorter stay in hospice tend to report higher levels of dissatisfaction with care.
Hospice care includes the following:
- symptom control and management, also known as palliative care
- pain management
- stress management and other mental health support
- spiritual support
- family support
Symptom management does not involve treatment of the illness directly, such as the use of chemotherapy to treat cancer. Instead, hospice care helps ease symptoms to ensure the person can live comfortably in their final days.
Hospice caregivers also provide
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Hospice teams also provide 24/7 support. They offer direct care and organize care by other medical professionals. They may also
In cases where hospice takes place at home,
According to a
Both types of care manage symptoms and address other important psychosocial needs, to improve a person’s quality of life.
However, while palliative care often goes hand in hand with curative treatment, hospice care does not. If a person has a serious illness, they may sometimes receive palliative care.
Hospice care takes place when someone with a serious illness nears the end of their life. The care they receive is
Besides this, palliative care teams are separate from the leading medical care team that provides treatment for a person’s illness. Hospice care teams, on the other hand, coordinate the majority of a person’s care.
For people who face the end stages of a terminal illness, hospice care can help ease pain, discomfort, and other symptoms. This type of care can help people live their final days as fully and comfortably as possible.
While they treat symptoms, hospice care teams also communicate with family members and provide 24/7 support. They also help terminally ill people and their loved ones make difficult decisions regarding end-of-life care.
Hospice care workers provide emotional support to terminally ill people, and their families, before and after their death.