Choosing Hospice and Palliative Medicine as a Subspecialty

The new blog hosted by the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM) included a recent post by medical student Jacqui O’Kane. She writes about the reactions she receives from friends and family when they hear about her subspecialty, and why she feels hospice and palliative medicine is an important field.

Fortunately, doctors do much more than cure. We are in the business of healing, and healing does not always mean curing, nor does it even necessarily mean affecting a physical improvement. Physicians may heal in other ways too, encouraging emotional, mental, and spiritual convalescence in patients and their families.

In fact, it is in these “alternative” forms of healing that the HPM physician shines.