Hospice care is designed to support individuals in the last stages of a terminal illness by prioritizing comfort and quality of life over attempts to cure the illness. The aim is to ensure patients are free from pain and able to live each day to its fullest. This often involves intensive pain management techniques. While hospice care typically takes place at home, services can also be offered in dedicated facilities, nursing homes, or hospitals. The hospice philosophy emphasizes addressing the emotional, social, and spiritual aspects of a patient's needs, along with their medical symptoms, to treat the person as a whole.Hospice care generally employs a multidisciplinary team, which may include a nurse, doctor, social worker, and clergy, to deliver comprehensive care. Services provided often include medication for pain relief and symptom management, various therapies (such as physical, occupational, and speech), medical supplies and equipment, social services, dietary and other counseling, in-home crisis care, and bereavement support. Although hospice care does not seek to cure the terminal illness, it may address treatable conditions like infections, sometimes requiring short hospital stays. Additionally, hospice programs offer respite care, where trained volunteers temporarily take over caregiving duties to allow family members or primary caregivers some relief and time away. This volunteer support is a core aspect of hospice care philosophy.The term "hospice" stems from the Latin "hospitium," meaning guesthouse, originally describing a place of refuge for tired and ill travelers returning from religious journeys. The modern hospice movement was initiated in the 1960s by Dr. Cicely Saunders, who founded St. Christopher's Hospice near London. This was the first program to introduce a team approach to professional caregiving, employing modern techniques to compassionately care for those nearing the end of life. The first hospice in the United States was established in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1974.
