I remember the day our group was scheduled to visit a facility that focused its services on the end stages of life. The term was first applied to specialized care for dying patients in 1967, at St. Christopher's Hospice in a residential suburb of London.
Hospice care is a compassionate method of caring for terminally ill people.
It is a medically directed, interdisciplinary team-managed program of services that focuses on the patient and family as the unit of care. Hospice provides a special kind of care designed to provide sensitivity and support for people in the final phase of a terminal illness. How hospice works Hospice services are available to those who can no longer benefit from curative treatment. The typical hospice patient has a life expectancy of six months or less. A team of trained professionals, that can include physicians, nurses, counselors, therapists, aides and volunteers, provides services.