Important Questions to Take the Guesswork Out of Hospice Care

Facing the reality of an aging family member is a difficult task, especially when it comes time to start asking the difficult questions about palliative or hospice care. Doing the research into treatment facilities can simultaneously be very important but very emotionally taxing. When you're looking into comfort care for your loved ones, one of the questions you'll need to ask is whether palliative or hospice care is the right choice for your family's needs. In either case, it's important to find care providers who will treat your family as one of their own and provide the tools needed to make this emotional process as easy and comfortable as possible, both for those receiving care and for caregivers.

What is the Difference Between Palliative and Hospice Care?

While palliative treatment is one part of hospice care, the inner workings of the two are very different. Palliative care is care that continues to focus on relief and treatment of medical symptoms, particularly in those whose illnesses are serious but not life-threatening. In simplest terms, palliative care contains the medical prong of treatment for your loved one, and can be performed by anyone from medical teams to massage therapists to psychologists who special in that branch of treatment.

Hospice care, on the other hand, is focused on providing comfort at the end of life in a much more holistic way. While it may include palliative care, particularly pain relief, hospice care is also about navigating the complex emotional process that family members and their loved ones go through during their final weeks and months.