近年來，台灣癌末病患的有增無減，且病患大部份長期遭受身體的病痛、心理的焦慮與沮喪，再加上病患常於持續住院治療期間因不適或相關併發症而死亡。這不僅會造成國家社會的沉重醫療負擔，也因為傳統醫療方式無法妥善照顧，而使得病患與家屬生活品質低落。因此，需要團隊合作模式的安寧療護的積極介入，提供病患家屬誠懇適切的建議諮詢並避免醫療資源的浪費。本文主要針對安寧療護的起源發展、安寧療護在台灣、台灣安寧緩和醫療歷史回顧、台灣安寧療護政策與法令、衛生政策的展望、學術的展望、經營策略的展望、居家安寧療護進行討論。

There are more and more cancer patients in these years. They are suffered from physical and mental affliction. They are discomfortable or have complication resulting from long-term stay in hospital. This results in heavy medical burden for the society, but it cannot satisfy the needs of patients and their family. Therefore, it is need to conduct an integrated hospice team to consult for patients and their family, and to avoid the loss of medical resources. The objectives of this article are to describe the development of hospice and its implementation in Taiwan, we also discuss its future development from policy, academic, and management perspectives.