I have recently started hearing the term “palliative care” used in connection with the term “hospice.” Are they the same or different, and if so, how?

Martha Twaddle, MD, responds:

"Palliative care" is actually a term that's been used for some time. Until recently, most people used it primarily in connection with care of the terminally ill with a focus on alleviating physical and emotional pain and symptoms and providing spiritual support.

But there has been increasing recognition that the principles of palliative medicine can be applied more broadly to meet the needs not just of the dying, but also of people challenged by other serious health conditions. Palliative care is now being used to improve the quality of life for patients who have chronic, debilitating illnesses or who have a lengthy recovery period from an injury. It can begin as soon as the point of diagnosis of serious illness and take place simultaneously with curative treatment. It includes the entire family, supporting them through the course of an illness or loss of a loved one. Specialists from many disciplines—physicians, nurses, social workers, certified nurse's aides, grief counselors and chaplains—work together as part of the palliative care team.

Hospice care, which typically begins when a terminally ill patient decides not to seek further curative treatment, is the purest form of palliative medicine. It is in hospice that palliative medicine achieves its fullest expression in the form of compassionate, comforting and supportive healthcare.

As recognition of the value of palliative care grows, it will play a more prominent role in mainstream healthcare, giving more people access to this enlightened philosophy of care.

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