Key Difference – Hospice vs Nursing Home
Hospice and nursing home are two programs that care for people in need. Nursing homes provide residential accommodation with health care. Hospice programs provide palliative care for terminally ill people. The key difference between hospice and nursing home is their residents or patients; nursing homes mainly target elderly people whereas hospice care targets terminally ill people. There are many other differences between hospice and nursing home. Let’s look at these differences in this article.
What is Hospice?
Hospice can be defined as a program that provides palliative care and attends to the emotional and spiritual needs of terminally ill patients at an inpatient facility or at the patient’s home. This program involves terminally ill patients who are expected to live 6 months or less. The aim of this program is to help patients who are dying to have comfort, peace, and dignity. The end-of-life care, which involves medical, psychological and spiritual support, is provided by volunteers and health professionals. The caregivers focus on the palliation of patients’ pain and symptoms while attending to their spiritual and emotional need. These programs also provide support to a patient’s family.
Hospice care can take place in a hospital, hospice center, skilled nursing facility or at home. This hospice care program is mostly seen in developed countries. St Christopher’s Hospice that opened in 1967 (in the UK) is considered to be the first modern hospice.
At the beginning, hospice care faced many obstacles such as professional callousness toward terminally ill patients, reluctance to talk openly about death, discomfort with unfamiliar medical techniques. However, this program continues to spread throughout the world.
What is a Nursing Home?
Nursing homes, which are also known as skilled nursing facility, rest home, convalescent home, are institutes that provide a type of residential care. Nursing homes are residences for those who experience difficulties in coping with the daily activities and require continual nursing care. Residents of nursing homes usually include elderly people. Young people with physical or mental disabilities and those who are recovering from illnesses or accidents can also be residents of nursing homes.
The services provided may different from one nursing home to another. Some basic services offered by nursing homes include room and board, personal care (including toilet assistance, dressing, bathing), monitoring of medication, 24 hours emergency care, and social and recreational activities. Some nursing homes provide assistant to people with special needs such as Alzheimer patients.
What is the difference between Hospice and Nursing Home?
Definition:
Hospice: Hospice is a program that provides palliative care and attends to the emotional and spiritual needs of terminally ill patients at an inpatient facility or at the patient’s home.
Nursing Home: Nursing home is an establishment providing residential accommodation with health care, especially for elderly people.
Residents or Patients:
Hospice: Hospice care support terminally ill people, typically those expected to live 6 months or less.
Nursing Home: Residents of nursing homes are elderly people or chronically ill people.
Residency:
Hospice: Hospice care can also be provided at home.
Nursing Home: People have to be residents of the nursing home in order to receive its care and support.
Support:
Hospice: The patients receive medical, psychological and spiritual support.
Nursing Home: The residents receive room and board, personal assistance, and medical assistance.
Family:
Hospice: Hospice care also supports the families of the patients.
Nursing Home: Nursing homes do not support the families of the patients.
Image Courtesy: