Our Lady's Hospice: Care Of Dying 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

ideas on paper for a centre for the dying. She knew what she wanted to

Hospice—Two caps 1) Number of days of inpatient care are furnished is limited to not more than 20 percent of total patient care days, *The Inpatient Cap*. 2) Aggregate payment amount received in Medicare payments for services provided in the cap year is limited to the cap amount times the number of Medicare patients served, *Aggregate Cap*. There are two different methods for counting the number of Medicare patients; Proportional Method and Streamlined Method.

The origin of the word “hospice” in medieval times meant “way station for weary travelers” (Perry). The first hospices were run by members of religious orders in the medieval times that cared for weary travelers whom found refuge with them until their death. Modern hospices are

Over the past five weeks, I have learned what palliative care really is all about. I found that there were areas that really changed my perspective as well, about what palliative care is. Some of these include, but are not limited to, when palliative care is used, how difficult is can be to get patients the pain management they need, as well as how many different complimentary therapies are available to patients.

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 first hospice care was established in 1974. A hospice must make physician, nursing, drugs, and medical supply services available 24/7. It must have social workers and counseling services available to the patient and the family. Hospice also provides therapy and homemaker services when needed in order to be qualified under Medicare certification. Hospice is a combination of special services for terminal ill patients. Beside the medical service, hospice care also supports patients and family psychologically and spiritually to put their emotional suffering at ease. The psychological suffering can weight more than physical suffering. Many terminal ill patients cannot accept the bad news and living under emotional distress. Certified chaplains can work with people from different religions, they focus on the world-view of the patient and family. Using patient personal goal as the measurement, chaplains are the

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

The doctors were pretty sure that Pierre had less than 6 months to live, so he fell well within the guidelines for hospice coverage. Should hospice coverage be limited to those with 6 months or less to live, or should other be covered? 6 months is a random figure and I think that the covering other could help families deal with hospice care a little better; it would give them a better understanding of what hospice-type services is entailed. It also could be too expensive for covering others and how can you know for sure if 6 months is suitable.

The word hospice originates from the time of the crusades when religious groups sets up stations or hospices for people who were sick and dying coming to and from the holy land (DeVries 223). Dame Cicely Saunders created the fist official hospice, St Christopher’s Hospice in London, in 1958. Her main goal was to treat not just physical pain, but emotional, social, and psychological issues. She wanted a place where terminally ill patients could go

Hospice originated in Great Britain back in 60’s by Dame Cicely Saunders, who felt the need for palliative cure for diagnosed with terminal illness. In 1892, hospice became funded through Medicare Benefit Program after many years of lobbying for funding was established. (Introduction to Hospice Care 2) (National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, 2015)

I do home health CNA jobs and trying to get in to be a CNA in a hospice home health and later on, I would like to be a visiting nurse to a hospice patients. I conducted an interview to one hospice psychologist I know and the information I’ve learned is intense and I’ve realized that I wanted to know more about this field. So what is hospice? Hospice is a program of care for terminally ill patients and their love ones; it’s a program about life and about living life to the fullest until the end. One professional that can help what’s they are going through is psychologist. They assessed what the patient and family needs and help them to understand and evaluate the options that meet their needs. Many psychologist have compassion working on hospice,

    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

The first hospice was built in England during the 1960s by Cicely Saunders. The first hospice built in the United States was in 1971 and was called Hospice Inc. Florence Wald played a major part and was a leader of the hospice movement in the United States (Martinez, 2011). The movement towards hospice in the United States started because dying had moved home to hospitals and patients were not being able to participate in their death, their wishes were not being respected, and pain control was given little to none from their healthcare providers. Nursing services for hospice patients started off being on a voluntary basis. Two hospice patients a day were seen by each nurse. In 1978, 59 hospices were developed throughout the United States. By

While sadness plays a big role in hospice…it is also true that there is happiness, positive reflection as well as wisdom. This month we want to recognize our two volunteers Connie and Paul Steber who have been volunteers for Hospice since June and considered it a true blessing to share the stories and experiences of patients who are living through a very emotional and difficult time. They are honored to be making a difference and to be able to share the stories of the patients like James Ellis best known as the Coach, who enjoys their company but most of all watching a football game, especially if his favorite team is on the winning end. The Stabers enjoy conversing with James and listening to his stories. There are also times when James and