「緩和療護（palliative care）」一詞常與「安寧療護（hospice care）」交互使 用。然「緩和療護」包含緩和醬學（palliative medicine）、緩和護理 (palliative nursing） 與其他致力於末期病患及其家屬的健康照護，其概念較廣泛；「安寧療護」則較著重於疾病 末期階段的照護，可謂緩和療謢的一部份，多針對臨終痛患在其家中或安寧機構中提供舒適 性照護。二者皆以社區、醫院或特殊機構等多種模式致力於緩解病患各種身、心、社會與靈 性上的痛苦，與傳統醫院中以延長生命為目標的急性照獲不同；其目的在提昇生活品質與自 然而平靜的死亡。緩和療護在過去30年間至少有七種意義上的變化：掩飾疾病與症狀、緩 解疼痛以提昇生活品質、延長生命、臨終照護、解除苦痛、病床分類以節制資源、及緩和醫 學（pal1iative medicine）的正式成為一專門學科。本文之目的在闡釋緩和療護的理念與 其在不同歷史背景下所含的不同意義與影響，以提醒吾人重新省思緩和療護的潛在意義。 。

　　　　　The term "hospice" is used interchangeably with palliative. Palliative care includes palliative medicine, palliative nursing and other health care professionals who care for the terminal patients and their families. Hospice care is that portion of palliative care which is predominantly provided in the home and in the growing number of hospice facilities. The goals of both hospice and palliative care are quite different from the acute care which aim at prolonging patients' life. There have been at least seven different historical meanings of palliative in the past 30 years: mask, quality, quantity, dying, non-dying, category and discipline. The purpose of this paper is to clarify the ideas and the transitions in the meaning of palliative care to provide a rediscovery of the underlying meaning of palliative care.