Palliative care and hospice care are similar in many ways and they are different in many ways. The similarities include caring for a patient, especially during the final stages of a chronic or incurable disease or when a patient is dying. There are many other similarities such as providing a comfortable day to day lifestyle, attending to basic needs and medication, providing treatment and overseeing medical progress as well as offering emotional and psychological support to the patient. Some programs also include counselling sessions for family members of the patient.
Common Differences Between Palliative and Hospice Care
Despite all these similarities there is a huge difference between palliative care and hospice. The differences are quite practical and some are technical.
1. The first major difference between palliative care and hospice is that the former is often provided at a medical facility while the latter is offered at a home. A patient would have to be at a medical facility which may be a hospital, healthcare centre or just a medical facility. This facility may be the first one where the patient had been diagnosed and subsequently treated or attended to for the present condition.
Palliative care has professional doctors and nurses along with trained caregivers attending to the patient. Hospice care is offered at a home. It may be the patient’s house, a relative’s place, a hospice care centre or at any place that the patient and the family desires. Hospice care is provided by experts in such care and medical services. Although professional doctors and nurses wouldn’t be attending to hospice care through day and night, there would be visits made by experts from time to time.
2. The timing is another important difference between palliative care and hospice. Palliative care doesn’t have any time limitation. Hospice care can only be opted for a period of up to six months. In other words, hospice care is ideal if a patient is terminally ill and would perhaps die in the next six months.
If a person requires long term care or for a year and more, then hospice care may not be available! However, there are exceptions. Some hospice care programs do not have any time stipulations while some palliative care programs may have time constraints.
3. The third difference between palliative care and hospice care is that the insurance policy of a person may cover the former but may not cover the latter.
4. The fourth major difference between palliative care and hospice is that the former usually continues follow-up treatment for diseases and ailments while the latter usually continues the existing treatment without attending to any progression or worsening of the condition.
