The Difference between Palliative Care and Hospice that result in Barriers to Care. What you will learn from this module:   Learn the assumptions and perceptions patients and their families have about the purpose of transitioning to hospice care. Understand the myths associated with agreeing to receive palliative care. Understand that palliative care stands alone and should be part of a patient’s care from the beginning when they are diagnosed with advanced cancer. Learn the barriers to implementing palliative care. Learn the value of palliative care when delivering patient centered care. Learn about how palliative care is also part of hospice care.

Educating your advanced cancer patients about the value and importance of not postponing joy. There is a tendency to avoid discussing the future, too far in advance, with your patients with advanced disease. The sooner we bring up the topic of not postponing joy, the better however. Patients may even say that they are planning on a family vacation to Disney World in 2 years. Your thoughts immediately go to estimating when she will be likely too ill to go but may not be verbalizing this to her. You don’t want to take away hope and burst that bubble. It however isn’t fair to the patient to be assuming that no response from you regarding such an announcement, or worse, saying that this sounds great, is doing her an injustice. Additionally, though she may still be living in two years and technically able to go to Disney World, she may very well be spending her time in the hotel room and not enjoying herself and her children/grandchildren doing park activities. Her goal wasn’t to be in a bed too weak to partake of this important family adventure. This is why a discussion about “Don’t Postpone Joy” is so important. It fits for many clinical settings too.