Center to Advance Palliative Care

Palliative Care is a broader and more inculsive term. These interdisciplinary services can be offered at any time during the course of the patient's illness and in conjunction with curative therapies. Palliative care is most often a hospital-based consultative service focusing on difficult to manage pain and/or symptoms.

Hospice programs also provide interdisciplinary care to address pain and/or symptoms. However, in this case, the target patient population is those who have a prognosis of six months or less if the disease pursues its normal course and who are no longer seeking curative therapies or interventions. While inpatient hospice services can be offered in the hospital setting, most hospice care is provided in the home or in a nursing home setting.

Ideally, there is a continuum of services involving palliative care early in the course of the illness and hospice care when the patient and family determine they wish to elect this targeted approach.

It is important to note that both Palliative Care and hospice providers include psycho-social and spiritual supportive care as key elements and address the bereavement needs of patients and family members.