The Care Of Hospice Care

This author’s personal perceptions concerning patients facing a lingering terminal illness, have been shaped by over 20 years of critical care nursing experience. Facing death and illness on a daily basis requires self-examination and a high degree of comfort with one’s own mortality, limits and values. Constant exposure to the fragility of life forces respect for the whole person and the people who love them. A general approach to patients who are actively dying is to allow them to define what they want and need during this time. The nurse’s role

In the article “Letting Go” that was being published in The New Yorker, Atul Gawande addresses the issues regarding to the current medical care system that fails to meet the needs of the patients with terminal illness. Gawande points out that the patients want to spend more quality time with their family members and having some special last moments rather than struggling to stay alive when they know that the chances are thin. Knowing the time to let go was one of the crucial part of the art of dying which people nowadays has forgotten. Gawande argues that choosing the hospice care would sometimes be a better choice for the

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

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.

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

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,

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 present-day misconception of palliative care possibly comes from the circumstance that palliative care was used interchangeably with hospice care until the 1980s. (Clark & Seymour, 1999). Clark and Seymour (1999) extensively write on the beginnings and evolution of palliative care. They describe the progression of palliative care as a whole and explain the movement from palliative starting out as supplemental care to terminal patients to the concept division of palliative and hospice care. They describe the differences in each and explain why palliative is its own concept that differentiates from hospice care. In 2002, the World Health Organization defined palliative care as “an approach” that increases the quality of life of

    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

This study discussed the association between attitude toward hospice or palliative care of both patients with terminal illness and primary caregivers (An et al., 2014). A total of 359 patients and caregivers completed foundational questionnaires. 257 caregivers were interviewed after patients passed away (An et al., 2014). The result of foundational questionnaires demonstrated that 38.2 percent of patients and 51.5 percent of primary caregivers would like to have hospice or palliative care involved. In addition, the interview result presented that 40.5

As noted before, family caregivers have expressed that such services have helped them cope with the demands of the caregiver role, but at times they are inadequate in alleviating caregiver burden (Bialon & Coke, 2012). As mentioned before, Morris et al. (2015) indicated that there are a number of unmet needs that impact the wellbeing of the family caregiver which limits their ability to care for the patient in the manner they would like to. Three types of support were identified that caregivers required from professional home care-givers: instrumental support, emotional support and information (Morris et al., 2015). Instru-mental support involved providing practical assistance in the home (Morris et al., 2015), this included how to perform nursing tasks and use equipment (Beland, 2013). As many caregivers themselves are frail and elderly, or simply inexperienced, it can lead to the breakdown of their ability to participate on hands-on care, like feeding and bathing (Morris et al., 2015). Emotional support involved relieving care burden and allowing caregivers to maintain and participate in personal activities (Morris et al., 2015). While support through information allowed caregivers to understand the patient’s prognosis and expected/possible complications (Morris et al., 2015). Healthcare professionals should be prepared to discuss end-of-life issues when

Hospice care is a faculty place where most dying patients would go when their lives are near the end. It is also a comfort place where a terminally ill patient, providing care and console to their pain.

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.