Hospice Programs
Hospice Programs; A Dignified Death
In the Middle Ages, hospice was a place where sick or weary travelers would stay while a long journey. Today hospice services are available to people who can no longer benefit from curative treatments. As the health care environment is changing at pace that few could have predicted, hospice is very much part of that change (Stair, 1998).
For many years our society and the media has placed an image of death in our heads, of a painful experience, one that is feared by everyone. Although death can be emotionally draining, also can be an uplifting experience. Providing comfort and love and the assurance that life will continue, is truly the biggest gift. Hospices are designated to provide sensitive support for people in the final phase of terminal illness. ). The typical hospice patient has a life expectancy of six months or less. Hospice care works to help the patient and family members to carry on an alter, pain-free life to manage other symptoms so that their last days may be spent with dignity and quality at home or in a home-like setting (http:/www.cmcric.org/homecare.html, 2000)
Hospice should be viewed as specialty and is focused on palliative care principles. Medical care is geared towards symptoms management, not curative treatment (Homecare and Hospices Resources, 2000). It is focus on living rather than dying, and a way to make the end of life as comfortable and meaningful as possible. The purpose of hospice is not to limit what health care is available to the patient, but enhance their life by controlling symptoms and providing support for everyone involved.
Hospice programs offer patients different levels of care and professional services that include; Nursin...
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This program helps many patients to be alert, comfortable, and most important free of pain as they live their final days in a familiar place surrounded by people they know and love. Therefore, giving them a dignified death.
References
Stair, J. (1998). Understanding the Challenges for Hospice: Fundamental for the Future. Oncology Issues [Online]. 13(2): pages 22-25. *http://ehostweb6.Epnet.com: (2000, October 13).
Home Health Care Hospice Services. *http://www.cmcric.org/homecare.html. (2000, October 13)
National Hospice Organization. Operations Manual. (1999). [Online]. *http://oncology.mescape.com (2000, October 13).
Byrock, I. (1995) The Changing Face of Hospice [Online] 14, pages
7-11. *http://oncology.medscape.com (2000, October 13)
Homecare and Hospice Resources (2000). [Online]. http://herald-journal.com
(2000, October 14).
God tells his children, “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away” (Revelation). Death is one of the most frightening and confusing times a person can go through. Watching a loved one pass away is also one of the hardest trials a person can experience. Many people assume that death is a time of pain and the only thing that they can do is mourn and watch their loved one fade away from the earth. This is wrong. There are ways that people can turn a bad situation to good. Dying doesn’t have to be painful and full of suffering. The County Hospice staff makes sure of this. The Hospice staff not only takes care of passing patients physically, but they also take care of the patients emotionally and spiritually. Hospice staff also plays a key role in helping families during the grieving process.
Terminally ill patients deserve the right to have a dignified death. These patients should not be forced to suffer and be in agony their lasting days. The terminally ill should have this choice, because it is the only way to end their excruciating pain. These patients don’t have
Final Gifts, written by hospice care workers, Maggie Callanan and Patricia Kelly, includes various stories detailing each of their life changing experiences that they encountered with their patients. Hospice care allows the patient to feel comfortable in their final days or months before they move on to their next life. This book contains the information considered necessary to understand and deal with the awareness, needs, and interactions of those who are dying. Not only are there stories told throughout the book, there are also tips for one to help cope with knowing someone is dying and how to make their death a peaceful experience for everyone involved. It is important that everyone involved is at as much peace as the person dying in the
Being in hospice care is a better alternative than being stuck in the hospital to try to avoid the unavoidable. Common misconceptions about Hospice could include that hospice makes life more miserable; however, a physician expressed his findings in Hospice,“You can only fail a patient if you fail to understand and respond to their needs. We may not be able to cure all of our patients, but if we can make them comfortable in the last moments of their lives, we will not have failed them”..Hospice care gradually emerged in the 1970s, when groups like the National Hospice Organization were formed “in response to the unmet needs of dying patients and their families for whom traditional medical care was no longer effective.”Herbert Hendin, an executive director of the American Suicide Foundations illustrates a story of a young man diagnosed with acute myelocytic leukemia and was expected to have only a few months before he died. He persistently asked the doctor to assist him, but he eventually accepted the medical treatment. His doctor told him he can use his time wisely to become close to his family. Two days before he died, Tim talked about what he would have missed without the opportunity for a
Thanks in part to the scientific and technological advances of todays’ society, enhanced medicinal treatment options are helping people battle illnesses and diseases and live longer than ever before. Despite these advances, however, many people with life threatening illnesses have needs and concerns that are unidentified and therefore unmet at the end of life, notes Arnold, Artin, Griffith, Person and Graham (2006, p. 62). They further noted that when these needs and concerns remain unmet, due in part to the failure of providers to correctly evaluate these needs, as well as the patients’ reluctance to discuss them (p. 63, as originally noted by Heaven & Maguire, 1997), a patient’s quality of life may be adversely affected. According to Bosma et al. (2010, p. 84), “Many generalist social work skills regarding counseling, family systems, community resources, and psychosocial assessments are relevant to working with patients and families with terminal illness”, thereby placing social workers in the distinctive position of being able to support and assist clients with end of life decisions and care planning needs. In fact, they further noted that at some point, “most social work practitioners will encounter adults, children, and families who are facing progressive life limiting illness, dying, death, or bereavement” (p. 79).
Hospice always patient and families the automaty to decide a choice of end of life care. It allows who prefer to end life in their homes, pain free, surrounded by family and loved ones: Hospice works to make this happen. The focus in on caring, not curing. Hospice utilizes an interdisciplinary team of healthcare professionals and trained volunteers that address symptom control, pain management, and emotional and spiritual support expressly tailored to the patient's needs and wishes. Hospice is not “giving up,” nor is it a form of euthanasia or physician assisted
(3)Publication Date: 2008-03-18Medicare Benefit Policy Manual Chapter 9 - Coverage of Hospice (4) JOURNAL OF PALLIATIVE MEDICINE
Palliative care - treatment that helps to comfort patients, while slowing the progress of a disease.
Support of our patients, our colleagues and of our own practice through evidence based practice techniques and scientific fact can be the most comforting evidence in this particular change proposal as it supports the PICO question, “In terminally ill patients, does early admission into a hospice program, versus those who are admitted later, result in more effective pain control at the end of life?” The answer, based in evidence is yes.
The care of patients at the end of their live should be as humane and respectful to help them cope with the accompanying prognosis of the end of their lives. The reality of this situation is that all too often, the care a patient receives at the end of their life is quite different and generally not performed well. The healthcare system of the United States does not perform well within the scope of providing the patient with by all means a distress and pain free palliative or hospice care plan. To often patients do not have a specific plan implemented on how they wish to have their end of life care carried out for them. End of life decisions are frequently left to the decision of family member's or physicians who may not know what the patient needs are beforehand or is not acting in the patient's best wishes. This places the unenviable task of choosing care for the patient instead of the patient having a carefully written out plan on how to carry out their final days. A strategy that can improve the rate of care that patients receive and improve the healthcare system in general would be to have the patient create a end of life care plan with their primary care physician one to two years prior to when the physician feels that the patient is near the end of their life. This would put the decision making power on the patient and it would improve the quality of care the patient receives when they are at the end of their life. By developing a specific care plan, the patient would be in control of their wishes on how they would like their care to be handled when the time of death nears. We can identify strengths and weakness with this strategy and implement changes to the strategy to improve the overall system of care with...
After reading the different stories in the book “Final Gifts”, I believe I have a better understanding of the nurse’s role in caring for the needs of the dying patient and how their families need to be guided through this experience. The different stories in this book provide insight into the experiences of the dying as well as how their loved ones cope with their loss. The authors Maggie Callahan and Patrician Kelly, experienced hospice nurses who have extensive exposure to dying patients and their families, through their shared stories, paint a picture of what the dying want. To many, death is a difficult concept.
Palliative care involves the holistic care to maintain and improve the quality of life of the patient and family during hospitalisation until the terminal stage. Palliation of care refers to the multidisciplinary approach of providing comfort and support for the terminally ill patient and family, thus has an important role in maintaining and improving the quality of life of the whole family. Chronic illness such as cancer gives a physiologic and emotional burden for the patient and family. Education and counselling of the possible options as well as treatments for pain and other symptoms that could help alleviate anxiety, suffering and discomfort. Palliative care provides assistance for the family as a channel for communication between the
It is argued that sometimes the motive behind euthanasia is “good” because it can end ones suffering. Nonetheless, euthanasia is not a good excuse to commit murder and take the life of an innocent human being, as there are other methods to help a person. Palliative care is a physical, emotional, and spiritual care for a dying person when a cure isn’t possible. It includes a compassion and support for family and friends and is a way of using specialized medical technique to relieve their pain and make the most out of their remaining life. The focus in palliative care is not to cure the illness, as it may not be at the moment, but just to let patients live in dignity and peace before their death. Health isn’t everything in life, especially without joy and love, and this is where palliative care comes into play. This, of course, needs to be emphasized ...
The end-of-life nurse’s primary objective is to provide comfort and compassion to patients and their families during an extremely difficult time. They must satisfy all “physical, psychological, social, cultural and spiritual needs” of the patient and their family. (Wu & Volker, 2012) The nurse involves their patient in care planning, as well as educating them about the options available. They must follow the wishes of the patient and their family, as provided in the patient’s advance directive if there is one available. It is i...
... that the nurse or family can do. The goal for palliative care is to make the patient’s passing as comfortable and relaxing, as possible. Medication management should be provided for every patient that is having pain to allow for a more comforting, pain-free, and peaceful death.