Reflection On Hospice Nurse

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

Registered Nursing takes skilled and hard working people. There are many jobs in the Nursing field. To name a few, there are: Hospice Nurses, Long Term Care Facility Nurses, ER Nurses, Pediatric Nurses, Geriatric Nurses, Acute Care Nurses, etc. Hospice Nurses are jobs taken by people that are strong hearted and strong willed. I had an experience with a Hospice Nurse in a job shadow. I went to the houses of her patients instead of a facility. We went to three different houses to take care of her assigned residents. Her patients loved her very much and she did her job with love and care. Three days after my experience with her, one of her residents passed away. They had a great patient and nurse relationship. She was filled with sadness and I also felt sad for the resident’s family and other caregivers that cared for him. Hospice patients are only said to live about six months or less. Not all residents pass away after six months, some live longer. Hospice care is given to patients that are dying, but hospice can also go on pause because the patient becomes more independent. The job of hospice nurses is to take care of the resident nearing the time of death, not to cure their diseases. My job shadow said that it is always sad when her patients go, but she knows that they are not suffering like they were when they were living. The National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization states, “Hospice care professionals and volunteers provide services that address all of the

Each day as a Hospice Nurse I touch lives. I cannot imagine a job more suitable for me. Each work day I make a difference in someone’s life. No one can die for us, but we don’t have to die alone; and, that is why I became a hospice nurse. Every day is different, presents new challenges, and always touches my heart. It’s beautiful when talent, and passion come together to make a difference.

In the hospital environment there are several resources for the nurse to partner with to address nursing sensitive indicators and ethical issues that may arise. In this scenario, to help resolve the issue with meal trays a partnership with dietary could be made to come with an appropriate solution for the correct delivery at meal time. The nurse could have brought this information forward and apologized to the patient and his daughter rather than trying to keep it quiet. The nursing supervisor

Long-term care is a result of people having terminal conditions, disabilities, illnesses, injuries, or being elderly. The purpose of long-term care is to provide services to people and to aid people at a time in their lives when they cannot depend on themselves to maintain daily activities. There are many variations of long-term care available – such as home care, adult day care, and independent and assisted living, personal care facilities, nursing homes, and hospice.

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 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).

There is a time to be born, and a time to die. As frightening as it is, we will all die someday. Some will die at birth, some in a tragic accident, and others from a natural cause. The average person will live a full life, and die in old age. Cancers and other deadly diseases are becoming more prominent in our culture, the demand for end of life care is becoming substantial. Hospice nurses provide near death care, and attend to the emotional, physical, mental, and spiritual needs of the terminally ill patient. Hospice nursing would not be the perfect job for all nurses, it takes a nurse with a special heart, and calling to specialize in the hospice field.

I would like to be a hospice nurse practitioner in the future. I worked in the cancer center for two years when I was in Taiwan. Most of our patients were underline with solid cancer which included Nasopharynx cancer, esophageal cancer, gastric cancer, pancreas cancer, colon cancer and liver cancer. The characteristics of solid cancer illness are long-term progression which means their five-year survival rate usually higher than hematology patients. A lot of patients in our nurse station kept in-and-out for more than two years, therefor, we build deep and strong relationship with them. As a result, we not only concerned about patients’ health condition, also we pay more attention on their quality of life. However, being a hospice nurse need professional knowledge background, also they need counseling skills to help patients, family members and caregivers to deal with sorrow and feeling of lost. To be a professional hospice nurse practitioner, there are several counseling skills are very crucial.

I currently work for a hospice company in the Sales and Marketing department and I am very familiar with how difficult it is to have the conversation about the end of life. In our department we try to assist doctors, nurses, case managers, social workers, etc. on how to have that end of life conversation. Not only does hospice provide palliative care but we are also very much involved with providing the education that is needed. Since I’m in the educational and awareness side of hospice it was interesting to see real life scenarios and get feedback from the doctors and the families.

The role of the expert palliative care nurse is complex and unique. The nurse functions as an integral part of a Multidisciplinary team, providing expert skilled assessment and nursing care, supporting the patient and the family to make informed choices thereby encouraging the patient to continue to make autonomous decisions about their care towards the end of their life.

It is very hard for family members and caregivers to just watch their loved ones suffer physically and emotionally. Family members are affected by the patient’s condition. Family plays a significant role in why terminally ill patients seek PAS. As the patient’s condition worsen, they may lose the ability to care for themselves. Patients worry that they will physically and financially burden their family, therefore choose to die with dignity without becoming a burden on their loved ones. “Majority of family members agree with the legalization of PAS, and accept it as rational choice in ending sufferings. Their attitudes are influenced by race, gender, socioeconomic status, education, cognitive dysfunction, religion and more” (Schencker, 2015).

During the home health observation day, there were several opportunities to observe a variety of patients with varying levels of functioning ability, different illnesses, and different needs and levels of interaction with the nurse. The first patient seen was a seventy-three year old Caucasian female with an ulcer on her right heel. Several weeks prior, she had scratched her left leg and she also had several small wounds on her left leg. The orders were to clean and redress the ulcer. She has a history of end stage renal disease, pneumonia, weakness, diabetes, dialysis, and right hip fracture. Upon entering the home, the patient was found to be sitting in a wheel chair in the living room watching television with her husband close by her side. She greeted the nurse with a smile and began to update her on her current condition. Her heel was “hurting” and she rated her pain an 8 on a scale of 1 to 10. She also had some “swelling” that she could not “get to go away; because, she could not get up and walk. They need to fix my foot so that I can get up and get around.” She told the nurse that she had been to see the doctor “yesterday” and the doctor had given her a written order that she wanted her to see. The order was written for an evaluation for a soft pressure shoe fitting. The nurse read the order to

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.

Three words can make someone else’s day. “I love you” can make anyone’s day because they know someone is thinking about them. In “Escort” the person does not realize how important those words mean to people that need hospice nurses. In “Loving the Dead”, no matter how much something or someone’s actions are hated, those things will always be loved because time and chances are limited and we as people are unknowing of the amount of time we have left. These two stories show how love can be a grandiose thing in someone’s life even if they do not realize it.