Palliative Care

Palliative Care vs. Hospice Care

Although the term "palliative care" is closely associated with hospice care, this type of care is not just for the dying. Palliative care is sometimes confused with hospice care since one of the main goals of hospice care is comfort and most hospice patients are dying. Here are the differences between palliative and hospice care:

Palliative Care

focus is on pain and symptom management
patient does not have to be terminal
may still be seeking aggressive treatment

Hospice

focus is on pain and symptoms management
patient has a terminal diagnosis with life expectancy of less than six months
not seeking curative treatment

In both hospice and palliative care, the focus is on quality of life of the patient. The goal for both types of care is to address any adjustment to illness or end-of-life issues.

This page was last updated on: April 26, 2007.

If you are interested in contacting the UM Medical Center's Palliative Care program or would like more information, please call 410-328-6700.

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