American Academy of Hospice & Palliative Medicine - AAHPM Annual Assembly

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Glossary

1

Hospice and palliative medicine (HPM)

The medical subspecialty focused on relief of pain and other symptoms and on quality of life for people living with serious, often life-limiting illness. In the United States, physicians can sit for the HPM subspecialty certification exam, and the Annual Assembly is where much of that workforce gathers for continuing education.

2

Palliative care

Interdisciplinary care that improves quality of life for patients and families facing serious illness by treating pain, dyspnea, fatigue, nausea, and psychological or spiritual distress alongside disease-directed treatment. Palliative care can begin at diagnosis and is not limited to the final weeks of life.

3

Hospice care

A model of care for people with a terminal prognosis, usually delivered where the patient lives (home, assisted living, or a hospice inpatient unit). In the US it is largely funded through the Medicare hospice benefit and includes nursing, physician, social work, chaplaincy, aide support, medications, equipment, and bereavement follow-up.

4

Interdisciplinary team (IDT)

The core hospice and palliative care team made up of physician or advanced practice provider, nurse, social worker, chaplain, pharmacist, aide, and sometimes therapist or child-life specialist. The Annual Assembly is explicitly built around this team model, which is why sessions target mixed clinical and psychosocial audiences.

5

Serious illness conversation

A structured discussion with a patient and family about prognosis, values, priorities, and what matters most, used to align treatment with patient goals. Session content on communication skills usually covers wording, family dynamics, and handling emotion, not only documentation.

6

Advance care planning (ACP)

The ongoing process of discussing and documenting a person's goals and preferences for future care, including choosing a surrogate decision maker. Outputs may include a health care proxy form, living will, or a state-specific portable medical order form.

7

POLST / portable medical order

A clinician-signed order form that travels with a seriously ill patient across care settings, recording preferences for CPR, intubation, hospitalization, and artificial nutrition. Programs are state-specific and are not interchangeable with an advance directive.

8

Goals of care (GOC)

The agreed priorities that guide treatment decisions, such as comfort-focused care, trial of intensive therapy, or time-limited treatment with reassessment. Goals-of-care conversations are distinct from code status paperwork, although they inform it.

9

Total pain

The concept, associated with Dame Cicely Saunders, that suffering in serious illness has physical, emotional, social, and spiritual dimensions that must be assessed and treated together. It underpins the whole-person assessment language used throughout hospice and palliative medicine.

10

Symptom burden

The combined impact of multiple concurrent symptoms such as pain, breathlessness, fatigue, anorexia, constipation, delirium, and anxiety. Palliative management prioritizes reducing this composite burden rather than treating a single symptom in isolation.

11

Prognosis and performance status

Estimates of likely disease course and of functional capacity, often scored with tools such as the Palliative Performance Scale or ECOG status. These estimates inform hospice eligibility, treatment choices, and family conversations.

12

Bereavement and grief support

Care extended to family and caregivers before and after death, ranging from normal grief support to referral for complicated grief. Hospice programs in the US are required to provide bereavement follow-up for a defined period after death.

13

Pediatric palliative care

Palliative care for children with serious or life-limiting conditions, delivered alongside curative treatment and involving parents and siblings in decision making. It has distinct pharmacology, communication, and ethical considerations that appear in dedicated Assembly sessions.

14

Continuing medical education (CME) and MOC

Credits that clinicians need for licensure and specialty recertification. Conference attendees typically record session codes or scan in, then claim credits through a post-meeting evaluation portal; nursing, social work, and pharmacy credits are usually tracked separately.

15

PhRMA Code and exhibit compliance

US industry rules governing how pharmaceutical and device representatives interact with health professionals, including limits on gifts, meals, and promotional items. Exhibitors at clinically focused meetings route booth materials and giveaways through compliance review before shipping.