Social Service Agency Interview: Hospice Social Service Agency Interview: Hospice Agency and Organizations and Title of Advocacy Role There were various different hospice organizations that were interviewed Good Neighbor and License Practicing Nurse (LPN), Pamela Larson informs the doctors of any concerns and watches the daily progress of the patients. While Pathways Hospice Michele Desnoes is the Care Provider Liaison and in this position, she will speak on behalf of the patient when the patient can no longer speak for them. Hospice Care of Boulder and Broomfield Counties Leann is a patient care advocate and she deals with the doctors and insurance companies and any medical or other issues that arise. Tony at Asera Care is a …show more content…
Gilda also witnessed her mother struggle with cancer, and watched the Hospice nurses and staff provide care and support to Gilda’s mother and family, and ultimately decided that she too wanted to assist people cope with grief and loss and the end of process. On the other hand, both Michele and Pamela started their careers in the medical field outside of Hospice and found their way to the Hospice program with time and experience. Pamela believed that there was a need for LPN is within the Hospice agency, and started her work as an LPN working with Hospice patients in their homes. Michele started as a nurse when she started working for Hospice and after a few years, she was promoted to a care provider liaison, working with and advocating on behalf of Hospice patients who reside in assisted living facilities. When the interviewees were asked what they would change about their jobs, each person provided a different response. Pamela expressed a wish that she could spend more time with her patients. Gilda communicated a desire to find a cure for cancer to prevent cancer patients from dying of cancer. Michele said that she would like to see more funding for Hospice programs so that more people could be reached and helped. Leann’s response was that she would like to see a more affordable Hospice program, and she would like to have a larger location to work from. Tony however, expressed total contentment and
Q1: Complete the following table, describing the needs you would have to consider when planning the different aspects of end of life care for an individual
Caring Hospice is a company that will provide nursing care to patients that are terminally ill. The ultimate goal is to insure the patient is kept as comfortable as possible while maintaining dignity during the dying process. This company will send registered nurses to the patient’s home for routine physical assessments, medication teaching and administration, education about terminal diseases and the dying process. The nursing staff will also create and maintain appropriate plans of care for the multi-disciplinary team to provide holistic care to the patient.
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
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.
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.
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
My perception of palliative and Hospice care has changed slightly when it comes to communication with the family. I walked into the hospice unit mentally preparing myself to talk with patient families about their loved one and the dying process; this was certainly not the case. The family and the patient did not want to be bothered unless comfort interventions needed to be carried out and there was no conversation to be had about the patient and his situation. This shows that each family is different, each patient is different; and we need to respect and accommodate their unique
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.
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).
Death is inevitable at some point everyone must face it. Whether it is the death of a family member, friend, or a family pet, people are forced to deal with the death. Nurses however have more frequent encounters with death than the average person does. When a patient dies in a healthcare setting his or her nurse is obligated to deal with that as well. They must find ways to cope with the increased amount of death that
Previously, many families chose to send their loved one into hospice care, but with the recent advancements in medical research, fewer people are choosing this treatment route. According to the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO), “In the 1970’s, cancer patients made up the largest percentage of hospice admissions. Today, cancer diagnoses account for less than half
The total number of people with a long-term condition in England is projected to be
On Wednesday November 4th, we were visited by two hospice workers, Jacqueline Rasmussen and Paula McMenamin. They were both San Diego State Alumni who had found themselves working for The Elizabeth Hospice.They were certainly more happy than you’d expect most hospice workers to be. Most people have problems with hospice, they see it as a place people go to die.
I have been a registered nurse at UCLA for 18 months. One particular issue that has captured my attention is the utilization of palliative care in health care. Because nurses are generally at the bedside all the time, they have an important role to play in voicing the importance of its utilization and implementation in the patient’s care.