Christie Dillman
Sandy Fontana
English 112
7 February 2017
Six Months to Live Suppose your a doctor have given you only six months to live, due to a terminal illness. Your doctor has given you a two options. The first option is to continue harsh treatments and provide you with all life support needs. The treatments are very risky, the doctors are skeptical that they will even work, and you the patient could die even faster than expected. Your second choice is to go home, allowing hospice to maintain your pain level, allow you to be comfortable, and allow you to maintain your quality of life. The relationship between hospice care and the dying patient is critical because it allows the dying patient to receive treatment that
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The doctor 's gave him several choice 's. His choice was not to endure any treatment for the cancer, and have hospice come to the home and provide him with end of life treatment. He believed any treatment would make him sicker and unable to enjoy the rest of his life. He wanted to be with family, friends, and come to peace with his diagnosis. Our family was able to be there with him during his last months, and able to be with him when he took his last breath. Hospice provided all the care needed for him to be comfortable and not in pain. They not only provided support for him but also provides support for us. He was able to die with peace and dignity in the comfort of his own home with the ones he loved and cared for. If hospice would have not existed, he would have had to die in a cold and uncomfortable hospital.
Hospice works with the dying patient to come up with specific dose 's of pain medications and any other medication 's to relieve symptoms of illness, to allow the patient a level of comfort through out the dying process. These medications may have to be adjusted time and time again to meet the patients pain levels and suffering of symptoms throughout the process. Messages, physical therapy, and the body adjusted in different positions are done to circulate blood, help with stiffness, and prevent bed sores.
Unfortunately, during the dying process patients become weak and more fragile. Eventually, they become less independent and more
Rather, the hospice staff and the patient understand the patient is going to die and no further treatment options are available. Therefore, hospice care centers direct their attention towards providing a dignified ending to a patient’s life by delivering comfort and emotional support through a palliative care approach designated to alleviate pain and emotional distress. For example, at Hospice of Dayton, each patient residing at the care facility is provided their own room where their family is able to stay with them and the patient is able to receive the pain management and emotional support they need to die a little closer to peace and security. Additionally, at Hospice of Dayton, there are full-time doctors, nurses, counselors, and religious support-staff that provide patients the physical treatment they need to minimize their pain, as well as the emotional support they need to live the last moments of their life with dignity and emotional well-being. Most importantly, Hospice of Dayton because of its volunteers. Volunteers provide the invaluable service of listening, crying, and laughing with those who may not necessarily have someone to spend time with, while they undergo their long, arduous, and painful experience of
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).
Hospice care focuses on support, encouragement and care of the dying person and family, with the goal of facilitating a peaceful, honorable and dignified death. Hospice care is based on holistic concepts, stresses and emphasizes care to improve quality of life rather than cure, supports the family and clients through the dying process, and supports the family through bereavement. Hospice is a unique area in healthcare service as it can be carried out in a variety of settings, the most common being home and the nursing home based unit or the hospital. It focuses on preventing, treating and eliminating discomfort and pain. Hospice care is a type of care that is
Hospice is a concept of caring borrowed from medieval times, where travelers, pilgrims and the sick, wounded or dying could find rest and comfort. The contemporary hospice offers a program of care to patients and families facing a life threatening illness encompassing medical, nursing, spiritual, and psychological care. It is more than a medical alternative, it is an attitude toward death and the process of dying. Terminal disease is managed so patients can live comfortably until they die. The hospice program in the United States has evolved in part as an attempt to compensate for the inadequacies of the present medical system, particularly in caring for patients with a terminal illness. Hospice care has
The goal of hospice is neither to prolong life nor to hasten the dying process, but rather, hospice focuses on comfort not curing. It helps to maximize patients’ quality of life as they travel along this last journey. Hospice care may offer several advantages over traditional, hospital-based care for people with terminal illnesses. It can be delivered in a patient’s home, allowing death to take place in the their own home, it may also optimize the relief of pain, increase patients’ and carers satisfaction, whilst allowing them to die in peace, comfort and dignity.
The nurse’s role in hospice is to correlate with numerous groups of people in the patients care. The nurse is the main source of information when it comes to talking to the physician as the nurse is with the patient day in or day out. The nurse could be expected to talk and correlate that patient’s care with social works, physical therapy, pharmacists, dietitians, nursing assistants, and the patient’s family. It is important for the nurse to establish if there is a religion preference or certain rituals the patient has. This could also determine if the nurse needs to bring a clergy or chaplain into the list of care that is being provided for the
Some factors as to whether or not a dying person will receive hospice care comes from if the patient is actually terminally ill and going to die in approximately 6 months or less, if the patient or family paying for the patient’s care has enough money since hospice is expensive and if there are even hospice care in the regions where the dying patient is. For instance of where availability is limited comes from the fact that hospice is more common in some areas like England and less common in areas like poor nations. The guiding principles for hospice care include that the patient has the right to make independent decisions that are then respected by hospice personnel involved, and the patient’s family and friends are taught how to care and
Discussing end of life care with patients is important, as it makes certain the patient’s wishes and their control over their care decisions even when they may no longer be too ill to be involved with them. Sad to say, these decisions and the wishes of patients do not occur and when they do, they are not done effectively.
Hospice care is for someone who has a life expectancy of six months or less, seeking non curative treatment, and has a physician's referral to receive hospice services. Not only does hospice provide care to someone with a cancer diagnosis, but it also provides care to any other terminal diagnoses. A few examples of other terminal diagnoses are dementia, pulmonary and cardiac diseases, and failure to thrive. Palliative care is provided for the patient "to help increase the quality of remaining life" (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2014, p. 553). In addition, hospice provides support for both the patient and the entire family. Hospice services can be provided in a variety of settings such as a long term care facility, an acute care hospital, or in the
Knowing that a loved one is in need of hospice care is one of the most difficult experiences you’ll ever have to endure. You can feel overcome by grief, yet you have to make many important decisions. Having the right information can help you choose wisely. Yukio Okutsu Veterans State Home in Hilo, HI, is here to help in your time of need with compassionate advice.
According to Cynthia R., of the Journal of Palliative Medicine, “Medical technology has been progressing in leaps and bounds since the second half of the 20th century” (1). This advancement is the result of ongoing studies of medical researchers, bringing about new curative treatments for a variety of diseases. Many of these are extending the lives and increasing comfort of those that are terminally ill. However, amongst the improvements in medical treatments available, they have become the default method of practice even for patients that will not ultimately overcome their condition. When given a diagnosis, patients are often thrust into a variety of treatments by health care providers. However, when that illness is no longer treatable to the extent that the patient will be cured, patients are often kept in the same realm of curative treatments despite their preferences. Hospice and palliative care is a specialized form of medical care that provides terminally ill patients (and their families) with pain management, family planning, and a focus on spiritual and emotional well being in the last days of a patients life, outside of a hospital environment. Hospice and palliative care does not mean that one is necessarily needing to be at an imminent stage before death. Rather, it is the ability of patients with terminal illnesses to receive pain management and care in order to live out the rest of their lives comfortably. Palliative care is said to have, “encouraged medicine to
Everywhere from nurses and doctors to short term respite care are all provided and help to make the terminally ill more comfortable Hospice offer in home and institutions in home is for those whose illness has disabled them he institutions are for those who don’t have much family and are still capable of walking or who need 24-7 care. All the benefits are very important to the people who are part of hospice. Moreover, not only does hospice have benefits it also is mostly covered by Medicare and Medicaid. Additionally, hospice is very involved in the well being of people using the precious time and makes sure that the persons possibly final wants are granted down to the favorite food. This makes people feel more safe and comfortable. An abundance of time is granted to people that need it and want to be near their
If you were terminally ill, and on the last phase of an incurable disease, would you want to spend your last final months in a cold, busy, noisy hospital room, being awakened every hour by hospital noise, or would you rather spend your last few months living your life in the comfort of your own home, with your familiar surroundings? This is why Hospice care has come into existence. Hospice care is for any ill patients, regardless of age, gender, race and nationality; who have a very serious chronic medical condition and often it’s when a physician thinks that dying is a possibility within a six-month time period. It doesn’t necessarily mean that a chronically ill patient will die within six-months’ time, but it could be for a patient that has cancer, kidney failure, heart problems, dementia, etc.
End of life comes too quickly for many, especially the people taking care of the terminally ill. This can be a very difficult time for everyone involved. Hospice is a great opportunity to take advantage of; it is used for patients who are not to be recovered from their illness but rather to provide comfort and emotional support to the terminally ill, resulting in the patient being as comfortable as possible. The caregiver and patient can also have an extra support system from the nurse and interdisciplinary team. Not everyone understands what hospice is and has different views on what it may offer to the patient and family. According to the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization; “hospice care involves a team oriented approach to expert medical care, pain management, and emotional and spiritual support tailored to the patient’s needs and wishes” (National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization). No patient wants to experience end of life in pain, and the family and caregiver definitely don’t want to see their loved one in pain. With hospice care, pain is kept to a minimum which keeps the patient as comfortable as possible and makes it easier for the family. Nurses play a main role in this type of care.
Palliative care can be defined as the care given to patient facing terminal illness with no cure. The goal of this type of care is to treat symptoms that are associated with the illness as well as providing psychological and spiritual support. Palliative care takes care of both the patient and the patient’s family. Hospice is the type of care that focuses on the needs of the dying patient. The typical hospice patient is no longer receiving life-prolonging therapy and has a life expectancy of six months or less.