Hospice Care versus Palliative Care - Essay Example

In hospice care, a patient suffering from a chronic disease in such a state that providing them with curative treatment is of no use. Due to this, the hospice care providers focus on providing support to that ill person as well as their friends and family members while trying to help the patient attain relief from symptoms such as pain and fatigue caused due to the disease they are experiencing.

The goals of treatment in both forms of treatments are even quite different. In the case of palliative care, the goal is to help patients cure the disease they are suffering and in the case of hospice care the goal is to provide comfort as a cure is no longer attainable. The timing at which these forms of care are provided is even quite different. In the case of timing for the treatment of palliative care, the treatment can occur anytime while the chronic disease that a patient is suffering from is in its development stages. In the case of hospice care, the timing of this type of treatment depends on when the physician acknowledges and certifies that the patient may not be able to survive more than six months (Meier, 2010). Read More