The kind and quality of modern health care depend on the relationships among the patient, the medical/nursing staff, and the institution.
Individual and social choices about financing health care exert an influence on the options available for care of the seriously ill and dying.
Health care institutions are increasingly oriented toward providing "total" or "whole-person" care (physical, emotional, and spiritual) and social support.
In the context of health care, a covenantal relationship implies a mutuality of interest between health care providers and patients; it encourages clear communication and promotes sharing of decision making.
Hospice and palliative care evolved from concerns about care of the terminally ill as well as from concerns about costs of health care at the end-stage of life.
Palliative care involves active total care of patients whose disease is not responsive to curative treatment.
Hospice care is specialized palliative care of patients with terminal illness.
Emergency personnel and other caregivers are exposed to stress related to the helping role.
Being with someone who is dying involves a confrontation with one's own mortality.
