Nursing 4400A/B Lecture 2: Week 2 Reading Notes
Document Summary
Palliative care is both a philosophy and an approach to care. Although the terms palliative care, hospice care and end-of-life care are often used interchangeably, there are differences among them. As figure 1 illustrates, palliative care (identified as hospice palliative care in the figure) is not restricted to care during the last months or days of life. Rather, palliative care can be used in conjunction with curative treatments. Hospice care, on the other hand, usually refers to the last months of life and brings with it an association with the place of care as a specialized facility. End-of-life care more accurately reflects the emphasis on the last days and hours of life. The canadian hospice palliative care association (chpca)defines hospice palliative care as an approach to care that aims to: Relieve suffering and improve the quality of living and dying. Who (2002) defines palliative care as an approach to care that aims to: