Hospice Care vs. Palliative Care, Essay Example

Hospice and palliative care are interconnected and sometimes confused. In fact, palliative care is the treatment offered to relieve the symptoms of a disease without any lasting curing effect. In this respects, palliative care is an indispensable part of hospice care which aims at providing maximum quality of life for terminally ill patients. Unlike hospice care, palliative care is given to non-terminally ill patients as well and may be combined with aggressive life-prolonging therapies. Hospice care is a more comprehensive issue and comprises specialized psychological and spiritual help to both patients and their relatives (bereavement counseling), handling the legal matters associated with dying, etc.

There are much more hospice programs than palliative care ones. Hospice programs can be home-based and rely on the family of a patient as primary caregivers and the services of volunteers. Palliative care teams, in contrast, include doctors, nurses and other medical specialists and are usually found at the facility which provides first treatment to a patient.

The financing of hospice programs partially relies on Medicare. Hospice care may be quite expensive for patients unless covered by insurance, which is often the case. However, many hospices provide charity services for the economically disadvantaged. Palliative care, which is usually provided at a hospital, tends to be covered by regular medical insurance.

References

Foley, K.M. (2005) The Past and Future of Palliative Care. The Hastings Center Report, Vol. 35.

Stein, G.L. (2004) Improving Our Care at Life’s End: Making a Difference. Health and Social Work, Vol. 29.

Villet-Lagomarsino, A. Hospice vs. Palliative Care. Retrieved June 23, 2009, from http://www.caregiverslibrary.org/Default.aspx?tabid=375