Healthcare Experience

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

The aim of a hospice is to improve the quality of life of the dying

Many terminally-ill patients give up hope when treatments are no longer available to help them and hospice care is given to them as an option. However, hospice care has proven itself to provide the best quality care for the last six months of the dying. The purpose of hospice is to provide the best care for terminally-ill patients at the end stage of their lives. Hospice offer services to support too many aspects a patient’s life such as medical, legal, spiritual care. Hospice includes art therapists, music therapists, and certified chaplains on the palliative team.

Rather, the hospice staff and the patient understand the patient is going to die and no further treatment options are available. Therefore, hospice care centers direct their attention towards providing a dignified ending to a patient’s life by delivering comfort and emotional support through a palliative care approach designated to alleviate pain and emotional distress. For example, at Hospice of Dayton, each patient residing at the care facility is provided their own room where their family is able to stay with them and the patient is able to receive the pain management and emotional support they need to die a little closer to peace and security. Additionally, at Hospice of Dayton, there are full-time doctors, nurses, counselors, and religious support-staff that provide patients the physical treatment they need to minimize their pain, as well as the emotional support they need to live the last moments of their life with dignity and emotional well-being. Most importantly, Hospice of Dayton because of its volunteers. Volunteers provide the invaluable service of listening, crying, and laughing with those who may not necessarily have someone to spend time with, while they undergo their long, arduous, and painful experience of

The purpose of hospice is to effectively provide palliative care to terminally ill patients and their families, it is available to any age, religion or race. According to the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, “hospice provides expert medical care, pain management, and emotional and spiritual support expressly tailored to the patient’s needs and wishes Support is provided to the patient’s loved ones as well” (NHPCO, 2015). In

Hospice goals “are to promote patient-family autonomy, to assist patients in obtaining pain control and real quality of life before they die, and to enable families of patients to receive supportive help during the dying process” (Leming & Dickinson, 2016). Hospice care can be delivered in any setting, mostly with the majority of patients receiving care either in their primary place of residence or in a hospice inpatient facility (Leming & Dickinson,

Hospice care is a model of care that focuses on relieving symptoms and supporting patients with a life expectancy of six months or less (Altshuler, 2013). For most nurses, caring for a dying elder (individual aged 65 years and above) is a discrete, time-limited experience that begins with first contact, often in a hospital, emergency room, or long term care facility, and ends with the death itself (Phillips & Reed, 2008).

Hospice is a special healthcare option for patients and families faced with a terminal illness. At Hospice there’s a multidisciplinary team of physicians, nurses social workers, bereavement counselors and volunteers that work together to address the physical, social, emotional and spiritual needs of each patient and

According to the American Cancer Society, one of the key differences between hospitalization and hospice care is that family and friends provide the majority of care. Hospice volunteers work as much with the family as with the patient. They may teach family members how to change dressings, remove a catheter, administer medicine, use bed pans, use a hospital bed, or assist in the dying in other ways. In a hospital setting, doctors, nurses and other healthcare specialists provide the majority of care. The hospice team of professional consists of a doctor, who serves as a medical director, nurses who provide direct care and case management, home health aides, social workers,

Hospice care main goal is to provide comfort then treating the person disease. Normally patients that live in hospice only have 6 months to live. Hospice also gives control to the patient in methods of their own death. Many patients will rather take a liquid substance that will slowly put them to rest, while others will have alternative plans on how they want to deal with their last stages of life. Hospice is also great at giving the patient many options when there trying to make decision on their death. Hospice overall wants to improve the quality of life and their finial wishes.

The United States needs to provide more hospice care awareness. Hospice care provides services for individuals who have six months or less to live. They are able to enjoy the end of their lives rather than using physician assisted suicide.

There are many factors that go into hospice services, not just the basic cares that one would assume. According the U.S. National Library of Medicine, hospice care helps people with illnesses that cannot be cured and who are nearing death. The goal is to give comfort and peace instead of a cure

According to Merriam-Webster (2015), the term “hospice” in a non-medical context refers to a place where a traveller can stay. The medical context of the word “hospice” refers to a facility or program designed to provide a caring environment for meeting the physical and emotional

The purpose of a Hospice is to provide care and support to patients who are terminally and a caring environment for the family members. The goal of Hospice is not to provide a cure but to provide palliative care. Hospice focuses on pain relief and symptom management to ensure that terminally ill patients live as comfortably as they can during their last stages of life.

Hospice care is a family-centered approach that includes a team of professionals: the patient's physician, hospice medical director, RNs, social workers, chaplains, a dietitian, counselors, therapists, home health aides and hospice-trained volunteers. If you are interested in becoming a hospice volunteer, complete training programs are available to help fulfill your calling to this rewarding mission. The team works together by focusing on the patient's and their family's needs, including physical, emotional, social and spiritual aspects, as well as providing needed medications, medical equipment and supplies.