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Palliative care got its start as hospice care delivered largely by caregivers at religious institutions. The first formal hospice was founded in 1948 by the British physician Dame Cicely Saunders in order to care for patients with terminal illnesses. [2] She defined key physical, emotional, social, and spiritual dimensions of distress in her work.
In most countries, hospice care and palliative care is provided by an interdisciplinary team consisting of physicians, pharmacists, nurses, nursing assistants, social workers, chaplains, and caregivers. In some countries, additional members of the team may include certified nursing assistants and home healthcare aides, as well as volunteers ...
Hospices exist to provide comfort to people who doctors determine are at the end of their lives, with six months or less to live. The paramount objective, according to the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, a trade association, is to make patients comfortable, with a focus “on enhancing the quality of remaining life.”
In 2006, the first World Hospice and Palliative Care Day was organised by the Worldwide Palliative Care Alliance, a network of hospice and palliative care national and regional organisations that support the development of hospice and palliative care worldwide. The event takes place on the second Saturday of October every year. [76]
Data from the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization indicated that in 2008 58.3% of hospice agencies were independent, with 20.8% based in hospitals, 19.7% geared for home health care and 1.3% in conjunction with nursing homes. [57] In 2007, the mean number of patients being treated in hospice facilities on any given day was 90.2.
Until recently, hospice was a nonprofit service mostly catering to cancer patients. Hospice care usually happens at home, where a nurse or caretaker visits a dying patient and comforts him or her. Occasionally it happens in an institutional setting, such as a nursing home. A few hospices also have inpatient facilities.
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