Hospice: Transition For Patients

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

Hospice is a process to end-of-life care and a kind of support facility for terminally ill patients. It provides comforting care, patient-centered care and related services. Comforting care relieves discomfort without improving the patient’s condition or curing his illness. Hospice is extended in a healthcare facility or at home. Its objective is to provide compassionate, emotional, and spiritual care for the dying patient.

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.

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.

Hospice care differs from other forms of medical care in that when the patient is dying, hospice works hard to relieve needless suffering. Normally, a patient is approved for hospice care if his or her life expectancy is 6 months or less. Hospice workers treat the person, rather than the disease. They aren't trying to cure a disease, but rather, they are trying to make the patient as comfortable as possible. Family and friends are encouraged to gather round and engage with the hospice patient. Many people have the misconception that the dying want to be left alone, but why would they want to be abandoned? Hospice is good for families, because they educate them on the dying process. Hospice care can be rendered in the family home, a nursing home, or in a hospital. Normally the majority of care is given by the family in the family home, or by nursing staff in a nursing home or hospital; however there are also private in-house hospice facilities-for those that may not have the family support. In the home, nursing home and hospitals the hospice workers come at specified times to work with the dying patient. They spend take vital signs, offer palliative care, and also offer support for family members. If you were to be admitted to hospice care you would find a great team of doctors, nurses, social workers, counselors, home healthcare assistants,

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

Palliative care, somewhat similar to Hospice care, focuses on relieving or preventing suffering from a life altering illness. The goal for both Palliative and Hospice care is to provide the best possible quality of life to

Hospice care has not been around for very longs but it is one of the fastest growing medical fields in the country, with over 1.58 million patients being cared for in 2010 alone. Hospice is an important part of caring for terminally ill patients and helps the families and loved ones to grieve.

    At some point in a terminally ill person 's life, there comes a time when all treatment options have been exhausted, and patient comfort is the number one priority. During this process, hospice care comes into play to ensure quality of life of a patient. Pain management and supportive services are provided to anyone who is willing by Medicare, and other government assistance programs, for individuals and families that cannot afford private home care. These services are provided by a trained group of professionals, including; Doctors, Nurses, Counselors, Social workers, Physical therapists, Volunteers and Chaplains. There are different types of hospice

Hospice services are paid by most insurance companies as well as Medicare and Medicaid. Patients and families deserve to have the best care possible even at the end of life. Senthilkumar, Ganesan, and Kavitha (2010), describe hospice care is directed to quality of life when a person is anticipated to have less than six months to live. A devoted hospice unit will provide an atmosphere that will help support meaningful time with patients and their families. Specialized trained staff can deliver a customized approach to therapy programs tailor-made to the patient and the family. With this would allow for concentrated personal care, exclusively for end of life.

Patients and families who begin hospice care understands that the patients’ illness is untreatable and the disease is slowly progressing. Hospice provides comprehensive comfort care to the dying person as well as to the family of the dying person. Families should not look at hospice as a permanent decision. Another important factor, when a doctor stop treatment as a cure for the terminally ill does not mean discontinuing all treatments. Hospice will dispenser needed medication to keep the person as comfortable as possible. Hospice goal is to give patients the opportunity to die with dignity by providing care and help to the patient and their family. Providing help to the patient’s family, hospice is reducing stress on the caregivers. In retrospect, families who receive service through hospice are satisfied with the end-of-life care than those families who did not use hospice services.

Hospice is one form of palliative care to assist with pain management and take a holistic approach to the dying person.

I have always believed that health cannot be optimized through the treatment of disease only. Rather, health should be addressed on a biological, physical, psychological, social, and spiritual continuum. Palliative care addresses an often-overlooked aspect of the patient experience, which is symptom management of their chronic illnesses. Health care professionals tend to treat acute episodes of

* Attention to residents’ transition from active curative care to palliative care (with comfort care and symptom management) requires that care team members provide the resident and their families with sufficient information about the transition process to facilitate decision making. This provision of information can reduce residents’ and families’ concerns and increase their satisfaction regarding the appropriateness of a palliative approach.