Considered to be the model for quality, compassionate care for people facing a life-limiting illness or injury, hospice and palliative care involve a team-oriented approach to expert medical care, pain management, and emotional and spiritual support expressly tailored to the person’s needs and wishes (The National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization [NHPCO], 2015).
The hospice and palliative care movement has helped people come to terms with their terminal illness, impending death, and the importance of spiritual issues and needs.
Hospice and palliative care provide a blend of physical and spiritual care for the dying person and his or her family. A team of nurses, physicians, social workers, psychologists, pastoral care professionals, and volunteers may be utilized to address various dimensions of care, including spiritual care (Kellehear, 2000). Two models of end-of-life care have evolved in the United States: (1) “traditional” hospice care under the Medicare Hospice Benefit and (2) palliative (or comfort) care. Hospice and palliative care have similar characteristics as well as some that are unique to each (Kuebler, Berry, & Heidrich, 2002).
Hospice care includes the provision of palliative care, but palliative care is both a method of administering comfort care and, increasingly, an administered system of care offered most often by hospitals. The principles and core values of palliative care and hospice care are the same.
EPIDEMIOLOGY OF DYING AND HOSPICE CARE IN THE UNITED STATES
The elderly population is expected to double within the next 50 years. This will create added strain on our already stressed social support and health care systems. Society will have to determine how to care for the terminally ill in a growing elder population with chronic diseases and terminal illnesses (Perron & Schonwetter, 2001).
Hospice care is widely used. Consider the following facts (NHPCO, 2015):
- An estimated 1.6 to 1.7 million patients received services for hospice
- More than half of hospice patients are female
- 84.0% of hospice patients are 65 years of age or older
- Pediatric and young adult patients account for less than 1% of hospice admissions