What is

Hospice and Palliative Care?

Palliative Care
Goal: To improve quality of life for both the person and their family.
An approach that improves the quality of life of patients and their families facing the
problem associated with life-threatening illness, through the prevention and relief of
suffering by means of early identification and impeccable assessment and treatment of
pain and other problems, physical, psychosocial and spiritual.
Multidisciplinary approach which provides specialized medical and nursing care for
people with life-limiting illnesses.
Focuses on providing relief from the symptoms, pain, physical stress, and mental stress
of a terminal diagnosis.
Not limited to end-of-life care.
Can be provided across multiple settings including in hospitals, at home, as part of
community palliative care programs, and in skilled nursing facilities.
Appropriate at any age and at any stage in a serious illness.
Can be provided as the main goal of care or along with curative treatment.

Hospice Care
Provides support and care for those in the last phases of life-limiting illness
Recognizes dying as part of the normal process of living
Affirms life and neither hastens nor postpones death
Focuses on quality of life for individuals and their family caregivers
Usually rendered on the last 6 months of life

History