Hospice And Palliative Care Services

I first heard about hospice from a co-worker a few years ago when that co-worker was preparing to check her mother in hospice and she was in her forties. As she discussed with me her mother had a drug addiction problem her entire life. At that time I had never heard about hospice and I became interested in learning more about it. “Hospice is a special concept of care designed to provide comfort and support to patients and their families. Patients are referred to hospice when life expectancy is approximately six months or less. Hospice care can continue longer than six months if

Caring Hospice will be made up of an inter-disciplinary team that collaborate together to provide holistic, competent, and compassionate care for terminally ill patients and their families. The team will consist of the Medical Director, Patient Care Coordinator, Registered Nurse, Bereavement Coordinator, Social Worker, Chaplain, Certified Nurse Assistant, and Office Manager. Each team member will play a vital role in creating an effective care giving system.

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 National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization reported that, as of 2003, there were 3,139 hospice programs in operation in the United States, Guam and Puerto Rico (Wexler & Frey, 2004). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Center for Health Statistics said that, in 2000, there were 11,400 combined home health and hospice care agencies, which served 1.5 million patients. It also reported that, at present, more than 90% of hospice care is delivered at home, although based in medical facilities. Hospital-based programs often provide hospice care in a wing or a

Caring for patients at the end of life is a challenging task that requires not only the consideration of the patient as a whole but also an understanding of the family, social, legal, economic, and institutional circumstances that surround patient care.

Hospice is a philosophy of care. It treats the person rather than the disease and focuses on quality of life. It surrounds the patient and family with a team consisting of professionals who not only address physical distress, but emotional and spiritual issues as well. Hospice care is patient-centered because the needs of the patient and family drive the activities of the hospice team.

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 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).

End of life issues involving education on palliative care and hospice; are these issues important to you and your loved ones? The purpose of this paper is to discuss end of life care and how the legislative process affects this important topic. As the American population keeps growing, so does the amount of an aging population. Is the amount of training and education in nursing school sufficient for palliative care and hospice? Do we need to provide more training to the medical field to help support the growing need for end of life care? At some point in our careers we might be faced with helping someone in their final days. Being educated and having the ability to provide appropriate care is part of our scope of practice. (American Nurses Association, 2010, pp.1-2)

This nursing organization has a magnificent amount of power and responsibility in improving the expert care in illnesses and diseases acquired by older adults through advocacy, dissemination of knowledge and the provision of continuation of education (“About GAPNA,” 2016.). Similarly, the Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association’s political position is to enhance expert care in serious illness and to advance nursing competence through education, leadership and research (“Shared Mission,” 2016). It also creates programs and other learning resources to advance competent care in complicated health conditions (“Shared Mission,” 2016). Furthermore, its responsibility extends to utilizing the best practices of hospice and palliative care to support those who are in need (“Shared Mission,”

Quality of Life and Functioning for End of Life Care. HAT2 Community Health Nursing. Western Governors University.

Why is it that people, in general, do not want to think about the end of their life journey?

What is hospice? The term hospice began being used for care of dying patients in the 1800s. Jeanne Darnier, who was the founder of Dames de Calaire in Lyon France, was the one who began using the term this way. The term hospice was adopted by The Irish sisters of Charity when they created Our Lady’s Hospice in Dublin, Ireland in 1879 and St. Jospeh’s Hospice in Hackney, London, England in 1905.

Hospice is a component of palliative care. A person does not necessarily have to be dying in order to see a palliative care specialist. This is where the service is often underutilized in the hospital. In the 18 months I have been a nurse, I have cared for many patients with chronic illnesses who have dealt with symptoms that have severely impacted their quality of life. Most of the time, it seems as though the patient’s care providers are interested in treating the patient’s acute problems. My experience has been that the symptoms are often overlooked or are being treated in a manner that is to the dissatisfaction and discomfort of the patient.

Ferrell and Coyle’s nursing perspective uses a holistic approach and considers the individual’s and family’s unique needs (Ferrell & Coyle, 2008). A multidisciplinary approach allows a nurse to work alongside a palliative or hospice team to effectively meet those needs (ELNEC (Module 1), 2013).