Hospice Palliative Care: A Model for Quality End-of-Life Care

Abstract Hospice is a program of care provided across a variety of settings, based on the understanding that dying is part of the normal life cycle. As people experience this last phase of life, hospice provides comprehensive palliative medical and supportive services, compassion, and care with the goals of comfort and quality of life closure. A hospice supports the patient through the dying process and the family through the experience of caregiving, the patient’s illness, dying, and their own bereavement. Understanding that the last phase of life is as individual as each person who experiences it, a hospice advocates so that people may live the remainder of their lives with dignity and die in a manner that is meaningful to them.