Children in Hospice

Including the client as an expert member of the team creates an enhanced quality of care (Coad, Patel & Murray, 2014). In pediatrics, parents are often at the center of the child’s care. When asked to define what made the client care experience positive, parents stated that sensitivity, empathy and honesty were key factors (Coad, Patel & Murray, 2014). Working in healthcare, nurses can become desensitized to difficult experiences because they deal with them daily. Integrating the client and family as part of the healthcare team, allows the nurse to see the patient and family as a people first. By avoiding using illness as context, and instead using person as context, care will be more holistic (Coad, Patel & Murray, 2014). A family-focused approach helps to ensure that the whole family feels a part of the experience and is valued. In the case of bereavement, family centered care is particularly important. If the family is not included in the care from the start, it can provide barriers for grieving and impact how the family deals with loss (Jones, Contro & Koch, 2014). Nurses have an opportunity to help support the family through the grief process (Jones, Contro & Koch, 2014). Families have a significant impact on how the client heals, so by caring for the family’s needs, the nurse is indirectly caring for the patient. It is in the client’s best interest for the care to be holistic for the patient as well as the family (Jones, Contro & Koch, 2014). All

Hospice exists in the hope and belief that, through proper care and the encouragement of a caring and sensitive team, patients and their families may be free to achieve some level of mental and spiritual preparation for death that is comfortable to them. The goal is to help

Death is inevitable. It is one of the only certainties in life. Regardless, people are often uncomfortable discussing death. Nyatanga (2016) posits that the idea of no longer existing increases anxiety and emotional distress in relation to one’s mortality. Because of the difficulty in level of care for end-of-life patients, the patient and the family often need professional assistance for physical and emotional care. Many family caregivers are not professionally trained in medicine, and this is where hospice comes into play. Hospice aims to meet the holistic needs of both the patient and the patient’s family through treatment plans, education, and advocacy. There is a duality of care to the treatment provided by hospice staff in that they do not attempt to separate the patient’s care from the family’s care. Leming and Dickinson (2011) support that hospice, unlike other clinical fields, focuses on the patient and the family together instead of seeing the patient independent of the family. Many times in hospitals, the medical team focuses solely on the goal of returning the patient back to health in order for them to return to their normal lives. They do not take into account the psychological and spiritual components of the patient’s journey and the journey that the family must take as well. For treatment of the patient, Leming and Dickinson agree that hospice does not attempt to cure patients, and instead concentrates solely

Summary: When moving a child from the home into a hospice facility, it can be a heartrending. With the right facility, it can be a time for emotional healing and happiness too.

The child who died is considered a gift to the parents and family, and they are forced to give up that gift. Yet, as parents, they also strive to let their child's life, no matter how short, be seen as a gift to others. These parents seek to find ways to continue to love, honor, and value the lives of their children and continue to make the child's presence known and felt in the lives of family and friends. Bereaved parents often try to live their lives more fully and generously because of this painful experience.

The article goes on to address the importance of specifically designing practices related to family centered care in the pediatric setting. Four recommendations are set forth in this guideline: family visitation, family centered rounds, family presence during CPR and invasive procedures, and family conferences. Recurrent themes in these areas are listening to and respect the family. communication of information and answering questions, education, and collaboration in developing treatment. While most of the information in this article is focused on the parents and ill child, many of the suggestions are applicable and adaptable to siblings (Meert, Clark, & Eggly, 2013).

The beginning of life is celebrated. Books and resources are shared among friends and family in preparation for becoming a new parent. So, what happens as one approaches the end of life? Unfortunately, the same care and sharing rarely occurs in those circumstances and many face the prospect of dying unprepared. Though most people state they would prefer to die at home, this is often not where death occurs. Many Americans spend their last days attached to medical apparatus that keeps the body alive, but it does not allow for communication with family and often requires heavy sedation. Additionally, this level of treatment comes at a high price. As a society, we must become as comfortable in addressing the end of life process as we

Pediatric palliative care is both philosophy and an organized process to help care for children with life threatening conditions. Treating pain and difficult symptoms with psychosocial and spiritual care. The people involved in the treatment care is the family members, and a transdisciplinary team.

Hospice is compassionate care provided to patients facing terminal illness or illness for which there is no cure. These patients are diagnosed with an illness from which they will never recover and usually have a life prognosis of six months or less (Hospice Foundation of America, 2014). The goal of hospice care is improving quality of life and managing the symptoms of disease and the dying process. The care hospice offers is focused on pain management and emotional and spiritual support for both the patient and family (National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, 2012). Hospice care can be provided in many different settings, often the patient’s own home. Hospice care can also be provided in hospitals, nursing homes, long-term care facilities and free-standing hospice centers and is available to patients of all ages (NHPCO, 2012). A patient receiving care in a hospice program has a team of healthcare individuals that can consist of the patients own physician, nurses, home health aides, clergy, social workers, and speech and physical therapists (NHPCO, 2012). Usually, a care plan is developed by the hospice team and care of the patient is provided by family members with the support of the hospice staff (NHPCO, 2012). Nurses make regular visits to the patient and family and are on call 24/7. Once enrolled in a hospice program hospice covers everything that will be needed to care for you, from medications to manage pain to

It is important to remember that care of the patient does not end when the patient dies. After the death there is still work to be done in the form of comforting the bereaved family members. It has been reported that some

What was once believed to be a form of neglect has resulted in a change in practice with the idea that doing less is more. Culture is an important factor in how care is rendered and thus, the limitations of palliative and hospice care lie within the desires of the family and patients. A thorough understanding of our surrounding demographics helps to ensure a seamless approach to providing care without bias or imposition of ones beliefs. However, just as with all things, providing care for the sick and comforting the dying should be rendered in moderation as to prevent the effects of burn out. Likewise, the same effects occur in the caregivers who sacrifice their responsibilities in order to care for their love ones. Finally, and with some closing thoughts, the writer wishes to express with gratitude the benefit of having taken this course to better understand oneself and others in the realm of healthcare. The lessons learned throughout have expanded this writer's knowledge and understanding of the human desire to make a connection through communication, emotion, compassion, and spiritually - the platform from which this writer wishes to continue seeking further knowledge and

My daughter was alive and well last week, and we watched her deteriorate in a hospital bed. Near the end, they were strapping her down and she was screaming and yowling as we tried to put her on an IV. It was horrific.”

“Each year in the USA about 500,000 children are coping with life-threatening illnesses” (Huang et al., 2010). The standard of care for children living with life-threatening conditions is vital for these children as well as their families. Palliative care, which is treatment aimed at reducing pain and other symptoms, rather than treatment aimed at a cure, is extremely important early on. An improvement with earlier access to palliative care involves

Usually either patients or families have the legal rights to determine what medical course to take with the patient when it comes to the diagnosis of death, in this case the family's conflict needs be considered. The healthcare staff involved in the patient’s care must communicate with the family members during this difficult time. If the patient is determined to be dead, the family will need support from the health care staff that has been involved in the patients care, all available hospital resources, including medical, nursing, social work, ethics, and pastoral care will be a good resource for the family members. Lawyers will usually advise health care staff to work with the family in the most compassionate way possible, the lawyers should be there to help with any conflict between the family members, and this will also help the organization against any future malpractice suits against the health care staff and organization.

All in all, I believe that if a child is suffering from a condition that would only lead to death than parents should keep their child’s feelings in mind when making a decision. The argument in this article I initially found it very hard to choose a side. In one light, all things should be tried because miracles do happen but on