Hospice staff strive to help patients live their days as peacefully and pain-free as possible. Hospice care is cost effective. Hospice care decreases costly hospitalizations. According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, patients not enrolled in hospice care spend 23 of their last days in the hospital, while patients enrolled in hospice spend only eight days in acute care settings. Hospice does nothing to speed up or slow down the dying process, but accepts death as a natural and inevitable event.
Hospices help patients live with dignity and comfort until the last moment of life.
Hospice is not involved with any assisted suicide effort, but rather emphasizes pain control and psychosocial support until the patient's death. When pain and symptoms of a disease is controlled and medical, social and family support is provided, patients often have a quality, extended life. Although some mistakenly see Hospice care as giving up all hope, studies have demonstrated that Hospice patients have improved physically and emotionally, because their home and family situation have stabilized, their economic worries are reduced and lastly, but most significantly, their pain is lessened. The interdisciplinary team needs early contact with the patient and family to accomplish this. The focus is on care, not cure.