Lexicon of Terms related to the Integrated Palliative Approach to Care
Like all health care practices, hospice palliative care has its own language and terminology. This lexicon of terms is designed to help those interested in implementing the integrated palliative approach to care develop a common language and understanding.
For citation: Canadian Hospice Palliative Care Association, Lexicon, The Way Forward Initiative: An Integrated Palliative Approach to care, 2014.
Setting of Care
The location where care is provided. Settings of care may include the person’s home, primary care settings (e.g., a doctor’s office, nursing station, community clinic), an acute, chronic, or long-term care facility, , a hospice or palliative care unit , a jail or prison or in the case of homeless individuals, the street.
Spirituality
An existential construct inclusive of all the ways in which a person makes meaning and organizes his/her sense of self around a personal set of beliefs, values and relationships. Spirituality is sometimes understood in terms of transcendence or inspiration. Involvement in a community of faith and practice may or may not be a part of an individual's spirituality.
Substitute decision-maker
A person or agency chosen by the person or appointed by the state to act on his or her behalf. Substitute decision-makers are normally held to substituted judgment or best interest standards.
Suffering
A state of distress associated with events that threaten the intactness of a person. It may be accompanied by a perceived lack of options for coping.