Until today, many are still confused about the difference between home care, palliative, and hospice care. All seem to be about providing sufficient care to a patient, so are they the same?
The short answer is no. However, in some cases, these types of medical care could overlap and morph into one another as the symptoms and the patient’s condition progresses.
So, if you’re looking for a palliative, home care, or hospice care in California, it pays to know the difference between the three, so you can find the right type of service for your loved one. Let’s take a look at their differences:
Home Care
Home health care is literally what its name is — health service in the comfort of your home. In a home health care plan, medical professionals, nurses, aides, and therapists visit the patients’ homes and help treat their injuries, illnesses, or chronic condition.
Here are some of the home health care services:
- Wound care for surgical wounds and pressure sores;
- Caregiver-Patient education;
- Monitoring of severe illness and unstable vitals and health status;
- Speech therapy and physical rehabilitation;
- Pain management, and more;
Basically, the goal of home care service is to help the patient get better and regain their independence in the safety and comfort of their home. The great thing about home health care is that it can be for both short-term and long-term situations, especially when the patient suffers from chronic conditions. Additionally, care can be extended into hospice care should their condition progress.
Palliative Care
Palliative care can also overlap with home care services, so many people get confused about both terms. Palliative care is given to patients dealing with symptoms, pain, or those who have serious illnesses, needing to receive curative treatments like chemotherapy and radiation.
In essence, palliative care is another form of specialized medical care for patients with severe health conditions and illnesses and provides them with relief. With that, the goal is to help improve the quality of life of the patient and their family through a specially-trained team of medical professionals, nurses, and other specialists.
Since palliative care and hospice care offer the same compassionate care to patients with life-limiting and life-threatening illnesses, it’s understandable that people get confused about the two. However, the biggest difference that a person needs to consider when deciding whether to get palliative care or hospice care is the patient’s timeline.
Hospice Care
Finally, we’re on the last type of specialized medical care. When a patient has about six months or less to live, patients are recommended to transition with hospice care assistance. However, you don’t need to wait for the go-signal of their doctor to do this.
Hospice care exists to provide patients with meticulous and compassionate care. It is often to relieve them from pain, control their symptoms, offer psychosocial support, and provide spiritual care to patients and families. At the same time, hospice care continues to provide medical assistance in the last stages of their life.
Patients who receive hospice care want to have the best quality of life possible since they may not live past six months. Additionally, hospice care patients are in pain, usually in the late stages of cancer, and are going through discomfort due to chemotherapy treatments. However, even if hospice care is known to be given to dying patients, some can still recover and get discharged from hospice.
The most significant difference between the three is that hospice care provides patients with caring instead of curing while taking place in an environment the patient is comfortable in. Usually, hospice care can be provided in the patient’s home, nursing home, or hospice care facility.
The Bottom Line: Knowing the Difference Between Home Care, Palliative Care, and Hospice Care will Give You a Better Idea of What Your Loved One Needs
Understandably, people can get confused about their differences because of the overlap of services provided by these specialized medical care. But now that you know their differences, choosing the best one is manageable.
Fortunately, there are home care, palliative care, and hospice care in California that can offer the best type of care your loved one needs to recover properly or to transition to the next stage of their life.
Are You Looking for a Hospice Care in California?
When your loved one is transitioning soon, providing the best medical care, offering support, and improving their quality of life is the best thing you can give to them during this situation.
Thankfully, the physicians, nurses, and aides at Bridge Home Health and Hospice are committed to providing patients with the highest home-based patient care. If you’re looking for home care and hospice care in California, we’re who you need. Request for more information and learn more about our services today!
