Final answer:
The focus of palliative care is on relieving pain and providing support for the dying person and family. Hospice care, which falls under the category of palliative care, is dedicated to comforting terminally ill patients, often enabling them to spend their final days at home with family support.
Step-by-step explanation:
The focus of palliative care is on relieving pain and providing emotional and spiritual support for the dying person and family. Hospice care is a type of healthcare that treats terminally ill people when "cure-oriented treatments" are no longer an option. Hospice care providers receive special training to care for those at the end of their lives, with an emphasis on ensuring comfort and peace as opposed to curing the illness. Increasingly, hospice services promote at-home care, allowing patients to be surrounded by family in a familiar environment. Hospice care not only benefits the patient by allowing them to remain at home and not be solely dependent on strangers, but also tends to extend their life expectancy compared to non-hospice patients. Family members receive emotional support, regular updates on treatment and condition, and experience reduced burden of care as well.