End of life care is something that is becoming extremely prevalent today. This end of life care is referred to as Hospice. Here, patients who are terminally ill may be placed in Hospice care, where they will be under constant supervision and will be cared for. However, although Hospice is an ongoing process that exists everyday, there are few people who really know exactly what Hospice is and what it consists of. Upon further reading, it is hopeful that one will get a better sense of understanding about Hospice.
Hospice’s main focus is on the patients and their needs. As shown on www.nhpco.org, the website for the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, their vision for patients and families is one where individuals and families facing serious illness, death, and grief will experience the best that humankind can offer (National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, 1). With this in mind, those who are involved with Hospice work to provide patients with relief from their symptoms and try to lift the weight off of their shoulders, also known as the Palliative Care part of Hospice. Hospice care involves a team-oriented approach, where members of the organization will work together to ensure the the patient, and their family as well, receive compassionate care (National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, 1). This includes physical care, such as pain management, emotional care, such as relieving stress, and spiritual care. Emotional and spiritual
The term “hospice” goes back to medieval times where it was referred to as a place of shelter and rest for the ill or weary travelers on a long journey (NHPCO, 2016). In 1948, the term was referenced to by Dame Cicely Saunders, a physician, for dying patients (NHPCO, 2017). Saunders created the first modern hospice program, St. Christopher’s Hospice, located in a suburb of London. However, it wasn’t until a visit to Yale University, in 1963, Saunder’s gave a lecture on the concept of hospice care. During the lecture, she emphasizes the differences before and after symptom control care. Thus, this lecture was the stepping stone for the advancement of hospice care.
Care designed to give supportive care to people in the final phase of a terminal illness and focus on comfort and quality of life, rather than cure. The goal is to enable patients to be comfortable and free of pain, so that they live each day as fully as possible. Aggressive methods of pain control may be used. Hospice programs generally are home-based, but they sometimes provide services away from home in freestanding facilities, in nursing homes, or within hospitals. The philosophy of hospice is to provide support for the patient's
A flexible and unbiased attitude is needed in order for the caregivers methods to be effective.Jaffe and Ehrlich's purpose in writing this book is to provide people with a holistic understanding of hospice care by highlighting the many factors of hospice care, such as: pain control, nursing support, Medicare, availability of hospice programs, curriculum of medical students, sensitivity to religious beliefs, as well as the details of each area. Through their stories, they provide examples of the above areas to help the reader understand the benefits of Hospice care.This paper will provide an outline of the main points in the preface, introduction, and each of the nine chapters and appendix A; excluding the foreword, Appendix B, and Appendix C.PREFACEByock explains "the power to change public and professional attitudes lies within the stories of people's experiences in dying" (1, p. viii). This solidifies the purpose of
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.
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
According to the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization in 2013, 1.5 to 1.6 million individuals were in hospice or palliative care services. Also, hospice and palliative care services are most widely used by individuals 65 and older or adults with cancer being their primary diagnosis (National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, 2014. power point 1-18).
For my last objective I wanted something that I can interpret what i’ve learned throughout this process of palliative care and turning into a physical
Family practitioners are well suited to provide end-of-life care because their training emphasizes treatment of the whole person, managing comorbidities, and coordination of care. Hospice care by definition is interdisciplinary and available around the clock, to allow even solo practitioners to manage terminal patients using a multidisciplinary team. Treatment focuses not only on medical
During the summer of 2015 semester I had the opportunity to intern with Hospice & Palliative Care Center located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Hospice and Palliative Care Center is an organization that stands behind its mission to provide compassionate care for those with a life-limiting illness, and their families, through quality medical, emotional, spiritual and social support (Hospice & Palliative Care Center, 2015). Hospice and Palliative Care Center is a place where patients can spend their last days of life with dignity. Regardless of inability to finance medical treatment no patient is ever turned away, unless he or she does not meet the requirements for hospice care. The employees are dedicated and faithful in applying the standards of excellence which consists of commitment, compassion, competence, community and creativity. One of my goals as an intern was to observe, implement and demonstrate the standards of excellence. My primary tasks as an intern were to learn and understand the conduction and operation of human resource, finance and the compliance departments in healthcare management.
1.1 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.
Caring for patients at the end of life is a challenging task that requires not only the consideration of the individual as a whole but also an understanding of the
A person’s life can end at any age. They can depart quickly or slowly. End of life care, also known as palliative care, is the care of patients that are not only in their final hours or days but the patients with a terminal illness that has become incurable. End of life care takes into mind what the patient desires so it is recommended that they consider an advanced care plan also known as an advance directive and living will. These documents allow the patient to formulate decisions on the future of their care if, at any point, they cannot vocally express themselves.
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.
Hospice is a program of care and support for patients who are terminally ill. There are 7 important facts about this program:
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.