What's the difference between palliative care and hospice?
Did you know?
Hospice care and palliative care do not mean the same thing. The key difference between hospice and palliative care is timing and treatment.
The term “hospice” is sometimes used instead of the term “palliative care,” and often, “hospice” is the more recognized of the two terms. But they do not mean the same thing.
- Palliative care focuses on maintaining the highest quality of life while continuing your treatment. It concentrates on other needs, such as symptom management.
- Hospice care focuses on care and pain management, but not treatment, when a cure is no longer possible, or the burdens of treatment outweigh the benefits. Patients can be enrolled in hospice when their doctor believes they have fewer than six months to live.
"Some people equate palliative care with hospice or end of life care. But palliative care medicine is a spectrum and end-of-life care represents only a very small part of the process. We want people to take full advantage of palliative care medicine. The best-case scenario is starting palliative care medicine services as soon as a diagnosis of a serious illness is made and then all throughout their illness journey."
Marissa C. Galicia-Castillo, MD
Director, Glennan Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology at Eastern Virginia Medical School
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