Journal of Palliative Care & Medicine
Open Access

Description

Hospice and palliative medicine is a structured medical subspecialty dealing with symptom control, pain relief, and end-of-life treatment.

What is palliative care

If the condition is severe but not life-threatening, this programme helps to alleviate pain and assist with other issues. It assists people in coping with the symptoms of long-term illnesses such as cancer, kidney disease, or AIDS, as well as the treatment's side effects. Palliative medicine isn't meant to take the place of other therapies. It's a supplement that will help you and your family deal with nausea, nerve pain, and shortness of breath, among other items. Pain Medications for Palliative Care There are two forms of drugs for pain management: opioids, which dull pain in the body, and adjuvant analgesics, or helper medications, which may target particular types of pain, often by suppressing inflammation. We need to educate patients and their families on all aspects of the disease process, open communication, ongoing cooperation between patients, families, and staff, quality of care, pain management, and assistance with advance care planning.

What Is Hospice Care

This is for those who have been told by their physicians that they are unable to recover from their illness. It's all about calming suffering and assisting families in preparing for death. Palliative care is one aspect of this, but it is only one. People in hospice care are expected to survive for fewer than six months on average. They are mostly cared for at home by family members and skilled caregivers. However, you have the choice of going to a hospice treatment centre. It's also available in a lot of nursing homes and hospitals. An interdisciplinary team of trained professionals and volunteers provides medical and social care to patients and their families through hospice, and they take a patient-directed approach to disease management. In general, care is neither diagnostic nor curative, though the patient may choose to undergo life-prolonging procedures such as CPR. The majority of hospice programmes are provided by Medicare or other insurance providers, and many hospices will connect patients with charitable support if they don't have insurance. Treatment may be provided in a patient's home or in a specified facility, such as a nursing home, hospital unit, or freestanding hospice, with the level of care and, in some cases, location dependent on regular assessments of the patient's needs. Routine home care, continuous care, general inpatient, and respite care are the four main levels of care offered by hospice. Patients receiving hospice care may be discharged for a variety of reasons, including improved health or a failure to work with providers, but they may return to hospice care if their circumstances shift. Medicare requires providers to give patients notice of an impending discharge, which they may challenge. Pediatric hospice care Children in hospice care are most often diagnosed with cancer, but they can also be treated for a number of reasons, including AIDS, prematurity, congenital disability, cerebral palsy, cystic fibrosis, or "death-inducing trauma," such as car accidents