Hospice

Introduction
Hospices offer a patient-centred care model that delivers services and focuses on relieving suffering at
the end of life (EOL). Several hospice services can be used at the EOL,1 2 such as outpatient and day
palliative care clinics, acute palliative care units, community-based palliative care, hospice share
(combined) care (HSC), hospice inpatient care (HIC) and hospice home care (HHC). We provided three
hospital-based hospice delivery models, HSC, HIC and HHC, in Taiwan. The HSC provides specialist
consultation regarding hospice care in the acute medical ward. They work with the primary medical
specialist team to provide hospice care for terminally ill patients admitted to their original ward.3 4 The
hospice care team faces several challenges in selection of an appropriate service model to alleviate the
symptoms and provide holistic care with respect to the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of
terminally ill patients, while supporting them through the EOL period.5 6 Understanding the patients’
characteristics and palliative care needs should help clinicians improve their choice of the hospice
model.
All hospice models are intended to deliver goal-directed care to patients with cancer and other serious
diseases.7 The choice of the model should be based on the patient’s characteristics, symptoms and
sociocultural and spiritual beliefs about sickness and death.8 Healthcare delivery is changing rapidly,
trending toward individualised hospice care. The evidence regarding benefits of early effective palliative
care in patients with cancer and non-cancer patients is irrefutable.9 10 However, few studies have
examined the association of the hospice model with patient characteristics and cancer survival. Ideally,
palliative care models vary in patients depending on their disease symptoms. However, most patients
eligible for hospice services do not receive timely and accurate care, facing death at home.11 12
Therefore, the role of hospice service delivery should be studied.13
In Taiwan, hospice and palliative care are well established. The 2015 Quality of Death Index, as rated by
the Economist Intelligence Unit, ranked Taiwan first among the Asian countries and sixth in the world.14
The National Health Insurance (NHI) in Taiwan offers universal coverage, but the database lacks
information regarding the different hospice cares provided to patients. A better understanding of the
different models could help clinicians improve their care and design appropriate training programmes.
There are three primary models for specialist palliative care, namely, the HIC, HSC and HHC, through
which comprehensive hospital-based palliative care is provided at the National Cheng Kung University
Hospital. This study determined the differences in main characteristics and survival of patients who
received the different care models. Based on the difference in patients’ characteristics and palliative
care needs, the appropriate hospice service model was administered in this study
Hospice care is a type of health care that focuses on the palliation of a terminally ill patient's pain and
symptoms and attending to their emotional and spiritual needs at the end of life. Hospice care prioritizes
comfort and quality of life by reducing pain and suffering. Hospice care provides an alternative to
therapies focused on life-prolonging measures that may be arduous, likely to cause more symptoms, or
are not aligned with a person's goals.
Hospice care in the United States is largely defined by the practices of the Medicare system and other
health insurance providers, which cover inpatient or at home hospice care for patients with terminal
diseases who are estimated to live six months or less. Hospice care under the Medicare Hospice Benefit
requires documentation from two physicians estimating a person has less than six months to live if the
disease follows its usual course. Hospice benefits include access to a multidisciplinary treatment team
specialized in end of life care and can be accessed in the home, long term care facility or the hospital.[1]
Outside the United States, the term tends to be primarily associated with the particular buildings or
institutions that specialize in such care. Such institutions may similarly provide care mostly in an end-of-
life setting, but they may also be available for patients with other palliative care needs. Hospice care
includes assistance for patients' families to help them cope with what is happening and provide care and
support to keep the patient at home.[2]
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