Hospice Professionals

I spent a good part of my childhood visiting my grandfather in the hospital. Those will be the best and worst memories of my childhood. I loved going to visit my grandfather but I also hated it. I loved going to the hospital because I loved seeing the doctors and nurses in action. I loved seeing how they handled their patients and I looked up to them because of how they took care of my grandfather. But I also hated going to the hospital because that’s where you would see so many people spending their last few days or hours with their families and that just made me have a mournful feeling deep down in my chest. I have always looked up to my grandfather. I was his right hand man or in this case his “right hand granddaughter.” He was my best friend, my hero and a second father figure growing up because even though he was battling cancer he still was the

When a person is diagnosed with a terminally illness and is given an expectancy of six months or less to live, it is time to concentrate on the type of care will need. Many times a person and their family will turn to hospice care. The meaning of hospice is to provide care to a person who is terminally ill. Hospice does not speed up or postpone death. Hospice is a type of care that provides services to improve the quality of life for the patient and family.

The research question put forth by the authors asked if training palliative care nurses how to provide psychological treatment to hospice patients would be an effective intervention. Moreover, if these training programs are deemed effective, how were they successful (Galfin et al., 2011, p. 119)? The study put forth two hypotheses. The first consisted of a “brief work-shop based training programme in guided self-help would improve the impact of routine clinical care on psychological distress within a palliative care team’s caseload” compared to the untrained team. Secondly, the nurses who attended

A survey was conducted in 2000 on more than 9,000 patients discharged from more than 2,000 hospices on the services they received (Carlson, 2007). It revealed that 22% of them received five major palliative care services, which varied among the hospices. These palliative care services were nursing care, physician care, medication management, psychological care, and caregiver support. Approximately 14% of the hospices provided all five services and 33% provided only one or two services. Only 59% of these patients received medication management services. These included administering medication, dispensing correct dosages, and setting and following dosage schedule.

Nurses: Assist the patients and families to cope with the end-of-life process such as assessing and

Volunteers played a large part in Pierre’s care, even staying with him overnight toward the end. How can the hospice’s management adequately supervise volunteer workers in such situations and ensure

The hospice nurse play role as case managers and advocates for patients. Their task is to monitor the

The purpose of hospice is to provide the best quality life and end of life care for individuals with a chronic illness. Engaging in hospice social work is both a rewarding and challenging (Quinn-Lee, Olson-McBride, & Unterberger, 2014). Individuals often choose to become hospice social workers for a variety of reasons including a sense of purpose and commitment based on personal experiences with death and grief; disenchantment towards dying in a hospital setting and a desire to focus on the quality of life versus the quantity of life (Quinn-Lee, Olson-McBride, & Unterberger, 2014). Rewards associated with hospice work include working with an interdisciplinary setting, the opportunity to implement hospice philosophies, and the opportunity to share transcendent experiences with clients and their families (Quinn-Lee, Olson-McBride, & Unterberger, 2014).

Nurses are a respected part of our community. They’re trained and educated to help heal, teach, and offer supportive care. Nurses can specialize in different areas, one would be the hospice field. Hospice patients typically have six months or less to live. Hospice will normally be provided in the patient’s home; however, the patient may also receive hospice care in the hospital, nursing care facility, or a family member’s home (“Home Health Care And Hospice Nursing”). According to Lauren Douglas, RN, while providing care in the home, the nurse must come prepared, and be expected to professionally and efficiently give outstanding care (Douglas). Hospice nurses often provide, teach, and monitor wound care, provide blood draws, as well as administer, and organize medications. Some hospice nurses will provide chemo-therapy and

You have made excellent points. I do not believe that health care professionals neglect to treat patients in palliative care in the correct settings. The care one receives is based on what type of locations they are in. Hospitals and hospice centers often have employees with higher education levels and an increased passion for their job. I believe that health care providers want to ensure that one is comfortable at the end of life. I have visited Alive Hospice here in Nashville and was able to see the the great amount of care they provided to their patients. I have attached a link to their website below. I am curious to know your opinion on why you think one would not receive adequate care at the end-of-life phase.

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.

When a patient is given a short amount of time expectant to live, they are referred to hospice. Hospice services provide the best possible quality of life. Hospice services include physician services, skilled nursing visits, on call, and around the clock during crisis periods, medical social workers, certified nurse’s aide, home health aide/ homemaker, trained volunteers, medication, equipment, and medical supply, short term inpatient care, bereavement counseling, and pastoral care.

Most nurses and health care professionals enter the medical realm to make their patients well and prolong the length of their life. In contrast, hospice nurses and their interdisciplinary teams aim to simply improve the quality of the remainder of their patients’ lives. The finite nature of hospice care means that hospice nurses specifically are exposed to a continuous cycle of loss without the opportunity to grieve appropriately. In addition, the empathy and compassion integral to nursing care can become overly pronounced in hospice nurses, making them especially at-risk of becoming too attached to their patients. These factors often result in physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion, a state known as compassion fatigue. Compassion fatigue (CF) affects not only the nurse’s quality of life, but also his or her job satisfaction and work ethic. This paper provides an overview and history of hospice care, discusses risk factors for CF, and examines its effect on nurses. It concludes with recommendations for appropriate ways to cope with CF and CF’s implications for the future of hospice care.

It was recognised by Jevon (2009) that caring for the dying patient can be the most fulfilling whilst also most challenging times for nurses and healthcare professionals. This paper will introduce a case study based on personal experience within clinical placement, exploring and analysing the above statement. In accordance with the Nursing and Midwifery Council Guidelines (2008) names have been changed to protect patient confidentiality. The paper will seek to address issues relating to the case study examining relevant theory. Current policies and guidelines will be considered in relation to the patient. It will identify a framework involved looking at literature to assess the effectiveness against the case study. Finally, focusing on a

The aim of this assignment is to explore the experiences of nurses caring for terminally-ill patients with HIV and how these experiences influence the nature of care rendered. The HIV virulent disease has been attributed to causing nurses to feel overwhelmed by the elevated number of terminally-ill patients they care for who, because of the nature of their compromised illness, require more dedicated care than other patients. The achievement of caring was experienced by nurses as convert the patients quality of life through supportive care and hope for life. Palliative care made the nurses conscious of their own mortality, enabling them to be more sensitive, compassionate and dedicated to concern for their patients.