Which term describes care focused on comfort for people with terminal illness?

• A. PACE
• B. Intermediate Care Facilities
• C. Hospice Care
• D. Nursing Facilities

Answer: (C)

End-of-life care that centers on comfort for someone with a terminal illness is hospice care. The essential idea is to shift the goal from curing the disease to relieving symptoms, controlling pain, and maximizing quality of life in the remaining time. Hospice care provides comprehensive support through an interprofessional team—nurses, doctors, social workers, chaplains, and trained volunteers—who work together to manage physical symptoms and address emotional, spiritual, and practical needs. It is often delivered where the patient is most comfortable, such as at home, and includes support for families and respite care for caregivers, plus bereavement help after death.

Other care settings offer valuable services but aren’t specifically designed around end-of-life comfort and a terminal prognosis. For example, programs aimed at keeping people living at home with an all-inclusive plan, intermediate care facilities that provide daily living support with some medical care, and nursing facilities that deliver ongoing nursing and rehabilitation care, do not center their goals on terminal illness comfort and end-of-life planning in the same focused way as hospice.