hospice /hos″pis/ [L, hospes, host] , a system of family-centered care designed to assist the terminally ill person to be comfortable and to maintain quality of life through the phases of dying. Hospice care is multidisciplinary and includes home visits, professional health care available on call, teaching and emotional support of the family, and physical care of the client. Some hospice programs provide care in a center, as well as in the home or in a nursing home. Hospice also offers bereavement counseling for the family. See also emotional care of the dying patient, stages of dying.
