What Are Palliative Care and Hospice Care? 완화 치료란 무엇일까요?, 호스피스 케어란 무엇일까요?

Palliative care and hospice care both focus on the comfort, care, and quality of life of individuals with a serious illness. Hospice care is a specific type of palliative care that is provided in the final weeks or months of life. Although these two forms of care are similar in some ways, they can differ as to when and where care is received, and which treatment options are available. Learn more about these two types of care to determine which may be most appropriate for you or a loved one.

What is palliative care?

Palliative care is focused on improving quality of life for people with serious illnesses and their care partners. It is available to people of any age who need it, not just older adults. The major elements of palliative care include managing a person’s symptoms effectively and ensuring that their care is coordinated.

Palliative care is interdisciplinary, which means that it involves multiple types of doctors and other care providers. These providers work together with patients and their families and care partners to ensure that the treatment plan reflects the person’s goals and values.

Palliative care can start as early as a person’s diagnosis or not until later in their illness, and it can occur alongside other types of treatment for the disease. This form of care includes, but is not limited to, advance care planning, end-of-life care, hospice care, and bereavement support.

완화 치료란 무엇일까요?

완화 치료는 중증 질환을 앓고 있는 환자와 그들의 돌봄 파트너의 삶의 질을 향상시키는 데 중점을 둡니다. 노인뿐만 아니라 필요한 모든 연령대의 사람들에게 제공됩니다. 완화 치료의 주요 요소는 환자의 증상을 효과적으로 관리하고 치료가 조율되도록 하는 것입니다.

완화 치료는 학제 간 협력으로, 여러 유형의 의사와 기타 돌봄 제공자가 참여합니다. 이러한 제공자는 환자와 그 가족, 돌봄 파트너와 협력하여 치료 계획이 환자의 목표와 가치를 반영하도록 합니다.

완화 치료는 환자의 진단 직후부터 시작될 수도 있고, 질병의 후기에 시작될 수도 있으며, 다른 유형의 질병 치료와 함께 진행될 수도 있습니다. 이러한 형태의 돌봄에는 사전 치료 계획, 임종 돌봄, 호스피스 돌봄, 사별 지원 등이 포함되지만 이에 국한되지는 않습니다.

Who can benefit from palliative care?

Palliative care is a resource for anyone living with a serious illness, such as heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cancer, dementia, Parkinson’s disease, and many others.

In addition to improving quality of life and helping with symptoms, palliative care can help patients understand their choices for medical treatment. The organized services available through palliative care may be helpful to any older person having a lot of general discomfort and disability very late in life.

Who makes up the palliative care team?

A palliative care team is made up of multiple different professionals that work with the patient, family, and the patient’s other doctors to provide medical, social, emotional, and practical support. The team is composed of palliative care specialist doctors and nurses, and includes others such as social workers, nutritionists, and chaplains. A person’s team may vary based on their needs and level of care. To begin palliative care, a person’s health care provider may refer him or her to a palliative care specialist. If he or she doesn’t suggest it, the person can ask a health care provider for a referral.

Where is palliative care provided?

Palliative care can be provided in hospitals, nursing homes, outpatient palliative care clinics and certain other specialized clinics, or at home. Medicare, Medicaid, and insurance policies may cover palliative care. Veterans may be eligible for palliative care through the Department of Veterans Affairs. Private health insurance might pay for some services. Health insurance providers can answer questions about what they will cover.

Visit the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization website to find palliative care near you.

Adriana’s story

Adriana developed anemia while she was being treated for breast cancer. A palliative care specialist suggested she get a blood transfusion to manage the anemia and relieve some of the fatigue she was experiencing. Controlling her symptoms helped Adriana to continue her curative chemotherapy treatment. Treating her anemia is part of palliative care.

In palliative care, a person does not have to give up treatment that might cure a serious illness. Palliative care can be provided along with curative treatment and may begin at the time of diagnosis. Over time, if the doctor or the palliative care team believes ongoing treatment is no longer helping, there are two possibilities. Palliative care could transition to hospice care if the doctor believes the person is likely to die within six months (see What does the hospice six-month requirement mean?). Or, the palliative care team could continue to help with increasing emphasis on comfort care.

For more information, check out NIA’s article on Frequently Asked Questions About Palliative Care.

What is hospice care?

Increasingly, people are choosing hospice care at the end of life. Hospice care focuses on the care, comfort, and quality of life of a person with a serious illness who is approaching the end of life.

At some point, it may not be possible to cure a serious illness, or a patient may choose not to undergo certain treatments. Hospice is designed for this situation. The patient beginning hospice care understands that his or her illness is not responding to medical attempts to cure it or to slow the disease’s progress.

Like palliative care, hospice provides comprehensive comfort care as well as support for the family, but, in hospice, attempts to cure the person’s illness are stopped. Hospice is provided for a person with a terminal illness whose doctor believes he or she has six months or less to live if the illness runs its natural course.

It’s important for a patient to discuss hospice care options with their doctor. Sometimes, people don’t begin hospice care soon enough to take full advantage of the help it offers. Perhaps they wait too long to begin hospice and they are too close to death. Or, some people are not eligible for hospice care soon enough to receive its full benefit. Starting hospice early may be able to provide months of meaningful care and quality time with loved ones.

Source; NEJM 11/13/2025 p1872 and Yahoo

호스피스 케어란 무엇일까요?

 

점점 더 많은 사람들이 임종 시 호스피스 케어를 선택하고 있습니다. 호스피스 케어는 임종을 앞둔 중증 질환을 앓고 있는 환자의 돌봄, 편안함, 그리고 삶의 질에 중점을 둡니다.

어느 시점에서는 중증 질환을 완치할 수 없거나, 환자가 특정 치료를 받지 않기로 선택할 수도 있습니다. 호스피스는 이러한 상황을 위해 고안되었습니다. 호스피스 케어를 시작하는 환자는 자신의 질병이 완치되거나 질병의 진행을 늦추려는 의학적 노력에 반응하지 않는다는 것을 이해합니다.

완화 치료와 마찬가지로 호스피스는 포괄적인 편안함과 가족 지원을 제공하지만, 호스피스에서는 환자의 질병을 완치하려는 시도가 중단됩니다. 호스피스는 의사가 질병이 자연적으로 진행될 경우 6개월 이하의 시한부 생존이 예상된다고 판단하는 말기 질환 환자에게 제공됩니다.

환자는 의사와 호스피스 케어 옵션에 대해 논의하는 것이 중요합니다. 때로는 호스피스 케어를 조기에 시작하지 않아 호스피스 케어가 제공하는 도움을 충분히 활용하지 못하는 경우가 있습니다. 어쩌면 호스피스 케어를 시작하기에 너무 늦었거나, 죽음이 너무 가까웠을 수도 있습니다. 또는 호스피스 케어의 혜택을 충분히 누릴 만큼 조기에 호스피스 케어를 받을 자격이 없는 경우도 있습니다. 호스피스 케어를 일찍 시작하면 몇 달 동안 의미 있는 돌봄을 받고 사랑하는 사람들과 좋은 시간을 보낼 수 있습니다.

Source; NEJM 11/13/2025 p1872 and Yahoo

Where is hospice care provided, and who provides it?

Hospice is an approach to care, so it is not tied to a specific place. It can be offered in two types of settings — at home or in a facility such as a nursing home, hospital, or even in a separate hospice center.

Read more about where end-of-life care can be provided.

Hospice care brings together a team of people with special skills — among them nurses, doctors, social workers, spiritual advisors, and trained volunteers. Everyone works together with the person who is dying, the caregiver, and/or the family to provide the medical, emotional, and spiritual support needed.

A member of the hospice team visits regularly, and someone is usually always available by phone — 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Hospice may be covered by Medicare and other insurance companies. Check to see if insurance will cover the person’s particular situation.

Dolores’ story

Choosing hospice does not have to be a permanent decision. For example, Dolores was 82 when she learned that her kidneys were failing. She thought that she had lived a long, good life and didn’t want to go through dialysis, so Dolores began hospice care. A week later, she learned that her granddaughter was pregnant. After talking with her husband, Dolores changed her mind about using hospice care and left to begin dialysis, hoping to one day hold her first great-grandchild. Shortly after the baby was born, the doctors said Dolores’ blood pressure was too low. At that point, she decided to re-enroll in hospice.

It is important to remember that stopping treatment aimed at curing an illness does not mean discontinuing all treatment. A good example is an older person with cancer. If the doctor determines that the cancer is not responding to chemotherapy and the patient chooses to enter into hospice care, then the chemotherapy will stop. Other medical care may continue as long as it is helpful. For example, if the person has high blood pressure, he or she will still get medicine for that.