National Coalition for Hospice and Palliative Care
US nonprofit coalition
Palliative care, family support and meaning during serious illness
National Coalition for Hospice and Palliative Care sets widely used guidelines for high-quality palliative care in the United States. This is not only end-of-life; it includes serious illness support, symptom relief, communication, and honoring what matters to a person and family. For midlife women navigating illness in themselves, parents, or partners, these resources offer clarity, language, and standards that reduce confusion and guilt. The Coalition’s guideline documents are long-form and practical, covering spiritual care, family support, ethics, teamwork, and care coordination alongside medical domains. Even if you never read every page, it helps to know what good care should look like, and what questions you are allowed to ask. Use it when you need a trustworthy map for difficult seasons where meaning, relationships, and the body all matter, and care should feel humane.
Trusted Voice resources
Eight Domains of High-Quality Palliative Care
Eight domains make quality palliative care broader than symptom control, covering structure, physical and psychological needs, social support, spirituality, culture, end-of-life care and ethics.
Use eight domains to understand comprehensive quality palliative care.
How Palliative Care Supports Patients and Families
Palliative care can begin alongside disease treatment, not only near death. This overview centers quality of life for patients while supporting families, caregivers and coordinated teams.
Understand how palliative care supports quality of life for patients and families.
Spiritual Care and Meaning During Serious Illness
Questions of meaning, hope, guilt, faith and mortality belong inside serious-illness care. The coalition describes screening, interdisciplinary response and referral when spiritual distress remains unmet.
Address meaning, faith and spiritual distress within serious-illness care.
