Hospice is a widely embraced model for compassionate care for people facing a terminal illness. Hospice, and closely related palliative care, involves a team-oriented approach to medical care, pain management, and emotional and spiritual support tailored to the individual patient's needs and wishes. Involvement from the patient's family also plays a key role. In many cases, hospice care is provided in the patient's home, usually the patient's preferred setting. Hospice care also is provided in freestanding hospice centers, hospitals, nursing homes and other long-term-care facilities. Palliative care involves the principles of hospice care applied to a broader population that could benefit from receiving this type of care earlier in their illness or disease process. According to the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, the term “hospice” was first applied to specialized care for dying patients in 1967 by Dr. Dame Cicely Saunders, who founded the first modern hospice—St. Christopher's Hospice—in a residential suburb of London. The use of hospice has been growing steadily, with an estimated 1.56 million patients in 2009.
Tournament Results:
- Round 1: Beat New models of Integrated delivery systems
- Round 2: Beat Patient-safety advocacy
- Round 3: Beat Electronic health records
- Round 4: Beat Cinical and financial performance transparency
- Round 5: Beat Release of the Institute of Medicine's "To Err is Human" report
- Final Round: Beat Institute for Healthcare Improvement
