What Is the Connection between Hospice and Palliative Care?

The direct connection between hospice and palliative care is that patients who are receiving hospice services have palliative care as a primary part of their treatment regimen. When a person has a terminal illness with six months or less to live, he or she may opt for hospice services, a treatment option that focuses on keeping the patient pain-free and allowing him or her to die in comfort and dignity. Patients receive palliative care for the relief of symptoms of their chronic illness. It is important to note that there is a vital distinction between hospice and palliative care. Palliative care is also used in many cases where the illness is not life-threatening to increase patients' levels of comfort, even though they may be undergoing aggressive curative treatment.

Palliative care is always part of a hospice services arrangement. Patients receiving hospice services are at the end stages of life, and have often undergone long-term severe illnesses and the accompanying treatments. Hospice services begin when there is no longer any hope of survival, and the patient has six months or less left to live. The primary goal is to ensure that the patient is as comfortable as possible and to allow him or her to die with dignity without the interference of life-prolonging measures.

Due to the goals of hospice services, it is easy to see how palliative care is a vital part of the patients' treatment. When receiving hospice and palliative care, the patient is often treated at home, although treatment can occur in a specialized facility if preferred. Pain-relieving measures are given liberally, which often includes heavy doses of narcotic pain medication such as morphine. Other troubling symptoms such as excessive fatigue, difficulty breathing, or anxiety are also treated. Treatments intended to cure the illness or prolong life are discontinued in order to allow the patient to pass away peacefully.

There is a distinction between hospice and palliative care, however. It is possible to receive palliative care while still undergoing aggressive treatments designed to cure illness, as well as when dealing with injuries or chronic incurable illnesses such as diabetes. Palliative care is any treatment designed to promote the comfort of the patient, so it has many additional applications outside of hospice services. This includes pain relief, anxiety treatment, counseling, and other services that allow the patient to have increased comfort and lead a more normal life while dealing with an illness or injury.