Also called: End-of-life care
Important: This page is general information, not medical advice. It does not recommend or prescribe any treatment. Always consult your doctor or pharmacist before starting, stopping or changing any medicine.
About Hospice Care
Hospice care is end-of-life care. A team of health care professionals and volunteers provides it. They give medical, psychological, and spiritual support. The goal of the care is to help people who are dying have peace, comfort, and dignity. The caregivers try to control pain and other symptoms so a person can remain as alert and comfortable as possible. Hospice programs also provide services to support a patient's family.
Usually, a hospice patient is expected to live 6 months or less. Hospice care can take place:
- At home
- At a hospice center
- In a hospital
- In a skilled nursing facility
It sits within Health System.
The lead U.S. institute for this subject is the National Cancer Institute.
When to speak to someone. Reading about a topic cannot tell you whether it applies to you. Speak to a doctor or pharmacist if symptoms are severe, sudden, getting worse, or simply not going away — and seek emergency care immediately for chest pain, breathing difficulty, sudden weakness or confusion, or a serious allergic reaction.
Research on Hospice Care
234 studies areregistered for this condition on ClinicalTrials.gov, the U.S. National Library of Medicine's public registry. A selection is below — the links go straight to the registry entry, not to a summary of ours.
What a registered study does and does not mean. Registration means a study exists and has been declared publicly. It says nothing about whether the treatment being tested works, is safe, or is available to you. Many studies find no benefit — that is what research is for. Never seek out an experimental treatment on the strength of a registry entry alone.
Research currently under way
- IN-TALK: Co-producing a Hospice Intimacy Support Toolkit in EnglandDorothy House Hospice
- Web-Based End-of-Life and Post-Mortem Care Education for Nursing Students: A Randomized Controlled TrialNecmettin Erbakan University
- Quality of End-of-Life Care for Children With CancerChildren's Oncology Group
- Designing Care Management for Hospice Transitions for Persons Living With Advanced DementiaNew York University
- Encouraging Older Adults and Adults With Serious Illness to Designate a Health Care ProxyUniversity of Southern California
- Life's End Benefits of cannaBidiol and tetrahYdrocannabinolUniversity of Southern California
Research already completed
- Web-Based Advance Care Planning for Patients With Advanced CancerTri-Service General Hospital (TSGH)
- Underutilization of Hospice in Older African AmericansUniversity of Colorado, Denver
- Pilot Testing Dementia-Enhanced Training and Tool for Home Hospice CliniciansRutgers, The State University of New Jersey
- Patient Journey in Palliative Care Within the NOVO Hospital Group.Hôpital NOVO
- A Telenovela Intervention for Caregivers of African-American and Hispanic Hospice PatientsJohns Hopkins University
- Improving Self-Efficacy Through a Telenovela: Feasibility StudyJohns Hopkins University
Study data from ClinicalTrials.gov, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Retrieved 2026-07-30. Registry entries are supplied by study sponsors and investigators; ClinicalTrials.gov does not verify their scientific validity. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH.
Where to read more
Rather than paraphrase, we point you to the primary sources. Every link below is to a government health agency, a national institute or a recognised medical body — grouped by what you are trying to find out.
Start Here
- Choices for Cancer Care when Treatment May Not Be an OptionNational Cancer Institute
- Different Care Settings at the End of LifeNational Institute on Aging
- Hospice Care: Comfort at the End of LifeMayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research
- What Are Palliative Care and Hospice Care?National Institute on Aging
Statistics and Research
- Data analysis shows poor long-term cognitive, physical outcomes after prolonged hospitalizationNational Institute on Aging
- FastStats: Hospice CareNational Center for Health Statistics
Clinical Trials
- ClinicalTrials.gov: Hospice CareNational Institutes of Health
Medical subject headings
Clinicians and researchers index this subject under Hospices. These are the terms to use when searching medical literature.
This page is built from the MedlinePlus health topic record for Hospice Care, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health. Information is from MedlinePlus.gov. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and is not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH. Retrieved 30 July 2026.