The mission of Hospice is to care for the terminally ill. Hospice care focuses on a palliative or comfort-oriented approach rather than on the pursuit of heroic efforts to cure terminal disease or to prolong life. In order to accomplish the goal of palliative care hospice and caregivers attempt to control pain. Pain management has not received the attention deserved in the education of medical health professionals and therefore the education of the general public. Myths about problems of drug addiction and loss of effectiveness of medications have been, in large, disproven in recent clinical research.
Pain management is the most important palliative care that hospices provide.
Alleviating this pain is the major goal of hospice therapy. Giving pain medications at regular intervals and giving large enough doses to maintain patient comfort has been shown to be more effective in pain management than giving medications in high doses when asked for. The most recent and comprehensive research does not support any of these myths. It does support the use of a stepped care approach to pain management utilizing less potent analgesics and then increasing to other stronger medications if needed to maintain effective pain control. Individuals with drug addiction are thought to be driven by psychological and social needs for the use of narcotics.