Hospital to Hospice Care

About the transition

We go to the hospital, thinking that the miracles of modern medicine will make us healthy again. Sometimes this happens. Many times, hospitalization is the start of a long road to recovery. Other times, hospitalization means that the end of life is not far away.

One of the options near the end of life is hospice. Hospice can have a huge impact on you, the family caregiver. The Guide to Hospice and Palliative Care can help you to understand the changes and to plan ahead. This guide includes hospice services, what makes hospice different from palliative care, and payment.

There are many misconceptions about hospice and what it means for both your family member and for you. We hope this guide makes hospice easier to understand.

For patients who have been independent until very recently, the transition to end-of-life care can be a shock - and for you, too. Up until this crisis, you may have been a spouse, a child, or a friend of the person needing care, and not a "family caregiver." The guide The First Step in Care: Becoming a Family Caregiver can assist you in making sense of this change, including what it can mean for you when caregiving ends.