palliative care and hospice care often are mentioned in the same sentence as if they are the same thing. they are not but they do share certain characteristics. hospice is care for people at the end of their lives and their families. hospice care encompasses physical emotional and spiritual support. it is not offered only to the dying person but to the entire family as well. hospice care is not about prolonging life; it is about providing comfort care and measures designed to enhance the dying person's quality of life. and this is the point where hospice and palliative care overlap. palliative care too is about maximizing a person's quality of life. however palliative care is not just for patients with limited life expectancy. any person with a serious illness or chronic medical condition may benefit from palliative care. palliative care takes a holistic approach to addressing pain--physical and/or emotional--and other issues of comfort. for example a palliative physician might order special skin creams to minimize the pain and tissue irritation from radiation therapy for cancer. palliative team members may include specially trained physicians nurses psychotherapists social workers physical therapist occupational therapists nursing assistants and others. this team focuses treatment on the patient but also offers support to family members. i hope this helps!
compare palliative with hospice care