Palliative care focuses on ...

• A. Palliative care is only for terminal illness with poor prognosis.
• B. End-of-life care only for hospice.
• C. Care focused on symptom relief and quality of life for people with serious illness, regardless of prognosis.
• D. Care focused on curing disease.

Answer: (C)

Palliative care centers on relieving symptoms and improving quality of life for people with serious illness, regardless of prognosis. It goes beyond just pain control to address physical, emotional, social, and spiritual needs, and it includes help with decision-making, goals of care, and coordinating care across different providers. Importantly, it can be started at any stage of illness and alongside disease-directed treatments, with the aim of aligning care with what matters most to the patient. This is different from the idea that palliative care is only for terminal illness with a poor prognosis or that it equals end-of-life hospice care, and it’s not solely about curing the disease. By focusing on relief of suffering and the patient’s goals, it best matches the description of palliative care.