The hospice team has special expertise in symptom management. One important part of symptom management is management of physical pain.
Pain management is truly an art, involving combinations of medications taken on a specific schedule.
Most of the time pain can be controlled. It's extremely rare for a person with competent medical management to die in pain. The nurses can also assist with dietary concerns. Hospice nurses fill an important role in the care of dying patients by acting as a liaison between the patient and family and their personal physician. The value of this role expands when patients become too weak to make regular office visits.