Hospice care, what is it?
Hospice care is for patients who no longer benefit from regular medical treatments and are in their final months of life. The hospice goal is to keep pain and suffering to a at a minimal level, hospice care is not to cure the illness. For you and the patient in your care, this requires a change in mindset from searching for a treatment to accepting that comfort, dignity, pain relief, and privacy are the main concerns near the end of life.How does Hospice work?
You may think of hospice as care that is received at home, which usually is the case. But a patient can also receive this end-of-life care in a hospital, nursing home, or private hospice facility. The one that is best depends on the patient's physical condition, whether the home is suited for providing hospice care, and the resources in your community,Hospice care isn't always continuous, and a patient may use hospice, on & off of it as their medical condition improves or deteriorates. For example, if a patient is in hospice care and goes into remission, from the symptoms of an illness, the hospice care can be stopped and then resumed again if the symptoms come back or the condition gets worse.
The entree into hospice care usually comes from a diagnosis and realization: To qualify for most hospice care, a doctor must give a diagnose of a a terminal illness, a medical condition that may cause death within six months or less.
Ho to get hospice help
You may find that you need to use persistence to get hospice care initiated, both in dealing with attending physicians and in finding a hospice organization available to provide the care.Hospice workers can't initiate care until they have received a written referral from a physician. In spite of the role hospice plays, it can sometimes take some work on your part for the patient to gain admittance to a hospice facility. For instance, if the facility thinks a patient might be too much of a handful (wanders off, or is combative) they may not want to admit your loved one into the facility.
Your initial meeting with Hospice
During an initial meeting, hospice will meet with you, the patient, and any other interested family members or friends to assess the plan of care. If you're going to be providing care at home, the workers will evaluate whether the place needs to be equipped with any special equipment, such as an hospital bed, a pad to help prevent bedsores, protective coverings for the floor, ramps for a wheelchair, shower chairs, grab bars or pressure mattresses.During this meeting have everyone involved ask questions that they need answered. Especially the person who will be providing the hands on care. Make sure you understand the services they offer and what you need to do as far as care issues.
Hospice offers daily,bi weekly, and weekly visits or how ever often they assess as necassry. They take vitals, bathe, contact doctors, and assess the patients needs every time they visit, as needs can change rapidly with end of life patients. If you are in need of help with any issues of care, Hospice will help in explaining treatments and show you how to follow through with them.
Hospice is a great service and I have used them several times in my facility. They are very caring, dedicated workers. They have great empathy and are exremely helpful in the end of life issues.
I hope you all found this helpful. If you would like to know more about hospice, I have posted a link for you here.
