Our Ask An Angel correspondent is Arlene Petersen, Certified Senior Advisor and Life Care Navigation Specialist in the area of senior home care.
Q. I hear the terms hospice and palliative care used, and I am not sure what the difference is. Can you clear up the confusion?
A. I agree that these terms can be quite confusing. We have been hearing the term palliative care more often these days, and that is a good thing. Most people associate hospice care with end-of-life issues, but it is so much more than that.
In the simplest terms, the difference between the two is as follows:
• Hospice care is appropriate during the last 6 months of life, usually terminal illness is involved.
• Palliative care can start at the time of a diagnosis.
• Hospice care is a form of palliative care.
Here is how the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization describes hospice care: “Hospice care involves a team-oriented approach to expert medical care, pain management, and emotional and spiritual support expressly tailored to the patient’s needs and wishes. Support is provided to the patient’s loved ones as well…Hospice care is covered under Medicare, Medicaid, most private insurance plans, HMOs, and other managed care organizations.”
How does hospice care work?
Typically, a family member serves as the primary caregiver and, when appropriate, helps make decisions for the terminally ill individual. Members of the hospice staff make regular visits to assess the patient and provide additional care or services. Hospice staff is on-call 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
“Among its major responsibilities, the interdisciplinary hospice team:
• Manages the patient’s pain and symptoms
• Assists the patient with the emotional and psychosocial and spiritual aspects of dying
• Provides needed drugs, medical supplies, and equipment
• Coaches the family on how to care for the patient
• Delivers special services like speech and physical therapy when needed
• Makes short-term inpatient care available when pain or symptoms become too difficult to manage at home or the caregiver needs respite time
• Provides bereavement care and counseling to surviving family and friends.”
Source: www.nhpco.org
Palliative care, on the other hand, can help people who are suffering from various types of illnesses. The illness does not have to be terminal and the focus is relief of pain and symptoms, as well as emotional stress brought on from an illness. Often, a palliative care program begins when a diagnosis occurs and is combined with traditional or curative care. The care team usually includes a patient’s physician and nurse practitioner.
Many times, we hear from families that regret not using hospice and/or palliative care programs for their loved ones. I believe it is a case of lack of information regarding what these services do. If palliative care and hospice care are fully understood, the fear and myths about them would be removed. It is important to have a discussion with a physician to know which form of care is best for the needs at hand.
My office has built a referral network of trusted hospice organizations that serve our surrounding service area. Call me if you would like to be connected to any of these providers.
Have a question for our angel correspondent? You can send our angel an email to apetersen@visitingangels.com or send your question via mail to Ask An Angel, 65 Woodbury St., South Elgin, IL 60177.
