St. Anthony’s Hospice offers both hospice care and palliative care, but do you know the difference between the two?
While both hospice and palliative care have the same goal in mind of symptom management and keeping the patient out of the hospital, the types of care are different. Most people use the two terms interchangeably however, palliative care is used to improve the quality of life of patients who have been diagnosed with a serious illness. Palliative care is used for expert symptom management while the patient is still undergoing curative treatment. Our Palliative Care team works with the patient’s physician(s) and/or specialist(s) to coordinate the best care plan and symptom management. Our palliative care program is provided in the patient’s home and the patient can still continue to visit their physician/specialist’s office(s).
On the other hand, hospice care is aimed at patients who have been diagnosed with a terminal illness. Hospice care is not a death sentence, rather it is extra help for the patient and their family/caregiver(s). Hospice care steps in to manage all types of pain- physical, emotional, spiritual, financial, and psychological- when curative treatment is no longer attainable. If the patient’s physician chooses to continue in their care plan, hospice care also works with their physician to coordinate care but in the home setting, which can be a house, apartment/duplex, assisted living community, nursing home, or the Lucy Smith King Care Center.
Anyone can make a referral to hospice or palliative care by calling our office at (270) 826-2326, filling out our referral form- https://stanthonyshospice.org/referral/, or by taking this short quiz and leaving us some contact information- https://stanthonyshospice.org/#POST_POP_QUIZ.
