One of the most common questions we encounter out in the field is what the difference is between Palliative Care and Hospice Care. In essence, both are geared towards symptom management in serious or life-threatening illness. Palliative Care can be viewed as a layer of services that can be placed in addition to the usual “curative model” that patients get in traditional medicine. It serves to treat the consequences of medical illness and palliate its physical, psychosocial, emotional, spiritual effects on the patient. Hospice is geared more towards the last 6 months of life, whereas Palliative Care has no time limits but is frequently initiated when illness becomes more serious or life-threatening.
The video below linked from Dr. Amy Newton is a great help in understanding these concepts.