Ella Dying At Home Case Study

Grandmother Ella has been dealing with cancer for years now and has tried alternative remedies and juicing. She went into remission for some time, but now the cancer has returned and she is in the hospital. Her husband, of American Indian descent, has his ideas about what needs to be done as Ella comes to the end of her life. Ella has her preferences, though she is now so weak that she has given up in many ways. The family members are each

Signs and symptoms of a patient nearing the end of life include a decline in appetite, reduction in consciousness and increased agitation, altered respiratory effort, reduced communication, reduced mobility and social withdrawal (Kitchener, 2017). Ideally, anticipatory care should be organised before this stage to help put in place an individualised care plan that takes in to account the patient’s wishes and best interests. Part of this discussion should include decisions such as whether hospital admission would be correct or if resuscitation would be appropriate (Macmillan Cancer Support, 2018). These Advanced Decisions to Reuse Treatment (ADRT) are legally binding documents if they meet the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act

Getting prepared for death can be an exhausting experience for the patient and their family. It is very important that the patient not only knows what they want as far as their right to receive or reject treatment and medications or knowing whether they want to receive palliative care at home or in a hospital setting to include the advantages and disadvantages of each. The main focus of this paper is to give the reader an in depth look on how an end of life crisis affects a patient and their family. Ella is a breast cancer patient who just came out of remission and is at the end of her life.

The process of deciding when a terminally ill patient should die lies within the patient, family members, and the

Death is an experience that we will all have to encounter at some stage in life, but for those with elderly parents or relatives, the experience becomes more real. “The experience of dying not only affects the person who is dying but also caregivers, family members, and friends who are left behind” (Osterbur, 2015, p. 102 ) and I can associate with that. My maternal grandmother suffered a major stroke and was later diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.  She died in the hospital 2 years ago. Unfortunately, she was not a recipient of hospice care and the task of caring for her was done at home with the help of a hired aide and family members. Novak (2012), explains that many are faced with the dilemma of institutional death or at home and the decision to prolong care or end treatment can be burdensome (p. 411). It was an uphill battle and emotionally draining for my mom and

Care designed to give supportive care to people in the final phase of a terminal illness and focus on comfort and quality of life, rather than cure. The goal is to enable patients to be comfortable and free of pain, so that they live each day as fully as possible. Aggressive methods of pain control may be used. Hospice programs generally are home-based, but they sometimes provide services away from home in freestanding facilities, in nursing homes, or within hospitals. The philosophy of hospice is to provide support for the patient's

In addition to advance directives, there are other decisions involving end of life care that people should think about and discuss with their loved ones. These are decisions are around the ‘how’ and ‘where’ that people wish to die. These types of measures may be touched on in one’s advance directives, but may not go into great detail. If diagnosed with a terminal disease or if the end of life is imminent, one should decide on the type and amount of treatment they receive. With death as a certainty, most people turn toward either palliative care or hospice

This might be one reason why some patients choose conventional treatment instead of choosing a hospice program, there is many other factors that may contribute to this decision such as; financial status. This research will help give nurses a stronger knowledge base of characteristics and advantage of hospice care. In addition, nurses will be able to explain the advantages of Hospice programs to more of their patients, thus, they will be able to educate and encourage more families to choose hospice care. Not only will it help the patient live out a comfortable life it will also help the caregivers with

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

Hospice crusade in the United States has advanced over the past 25 years. The focus of hospice is comprehensive physical, psychosocial, emotional and spiritual therapy in people, who are terminally ill and their families. Hospice providers are helping the quality of life by whenever they can, instead of hospitals, protecting patients treated at home from the burden and provide intervention. Hospice nurses are mainly in accordance with the 1983 Medicare Benefits Act, guidelines of the federal program that allows the patient to die in their own home with family and friends at their next offer treatment (Nurses for a Healthier Tomorrow, n.d).

As people approach the end of their lives, they with their families and their caregivers, face many tasks and decisions. They may be psychological, spiritual, or medical in nature, but all end-of-life choices and medical decisions have complex psychological components, ramifications, and consequences that have a significant impact on the suffering patients and their caregivers.

There are occasions when medicine is not your friend and the effects of the treatment will only prolong the suffering of the patient. Healthcare professionals must be objective and ask will the end result be changed. We must know when it is appropriate to discuss end of life options and when it is not. According to Adams (2015), most desire to die at home, but less than half are allowed to do so (p. 13). Our responsibility is to allow the client to make an educated decision about all the available service and treatments.

Keith discusses life, death, and suffering all throughout the article to pull at reader’s heart strings. Everyone has watched a loved one suffer and live day to day wanting to die at some point in their life. He states in the article, “What all these cases have in common is the need to make decisions over “end-of-life care” treatments provided in the last stages of life, when recovery is known to be impossible” (Keith 1). This is put in the article to emphasize that important life or death decisions must be made at times.

According to this article, in order for caregivers to provide a ‘good death’ to their love ones, they need the support of health care professionals. The health professional will help guide the experience, there are many factors that weigh in on this; the patient’s home might not be accessible for some cumbersome equipment that might be needed. They also need financial support because in some cases the machinery has to be rented. The comfort of the patient in most cases take precedent over all. The will of the patient wanting to do die at home in their bed provides an incentive to the caretaker to try their best to abide by the patient wishes.

Everywhere from nurses and doctors to short term respite care are all provided and help to make the terminally ill more comfortable Hospice offer in home and institutions in home is for those whose illness has disabled them he institutions are for those who don’t have much family and are still capable of walking or who need 24-7 care. All the benefits are very important to the people who are part of hospice. Moreover, not only does hospice have benefits it also is mostly covered by Medicare and Medicaid. Additionally, hospice is very involved in the well being of people using the precious time and makes sure that the persons possibly final wants are granted down to the favorite food. This makes people feel more safe and comfortable. An abundance of time is granted to people that need it and want to be near their