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Today the terms palliative care and hospice care are used in different contexts depending on the person speaking, setting and countries. In the US, there has been a shift in emphasis to end-of-life care. Therefore, many unknowingly are attempting to say that palliative care and hospice care are one in the same. Many individuals grounded in hospice level care, including this writer, believe there is definable difference between these two related models of care. Palliative care is comfort oriented care with an emphasis on pain and symptom management. This level of care is based on a medical model; it often starts and sometimes remains in the acute care setting. Hospice care includes palliative care technology in addressing pain for terminally ill people. However, it is much more comprehensive including emotional, spiritual and other life dimensions. Hospice care is exclusively oriented to dying people and includes their families in the scope of service.
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