Hospice and Palliative Care
In the middle ages a hospice was a place where weary or sick travelers rested during a long journey. Today the term hospice means a type of end-of-life care. Our culture defers talk about death and dying, but experts say frank discussion can be healthy for patients and their families.
This is the essence of hospice and palliative care. Care not cure, a shift from aggressively seeking a cure to expert pain and symptom management or palliative care. There are many misconceptions about hospices. Most people think hospice is a place where people go to die. But it's not. It's a way of caring for patients who are terminally ill that provides death with dignity. It can be provided in a patient's home, in a nursing home, in the hospital or in a hospice inpatient center.
Polls show 71 percent of Americans would
prefer to die at home and 86 percent believe
people who have a terminal illness would
most like to receive end-of-life care at
home. Paradoxically just fewer than 25%
of Americans do die at home. About half
age 65 and older die in hospitals, often
after stays in intensive care units, visits
to multiple physicians in the months before
death, and expensive life-prolonging treatments.
Another 20-to-25 percent die in nursing
homes.
More than 3,000 hospice programs in the
United States offer bereavement services,
too. Still, nearly 80% of Americans don't
think of hospice care as a choice for end
of life - and don't realize it's available
at home. Ninety percent of Americans are
unaware that Medicare can cover all hospice
care costs.
LINKS AND RESOURCES
National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization
Hospice Association of America
