...Hospice care The main goal of hospice care is to aid patients to live their last days as alert and pain-free as possible. Hospice care attempts to manage symptoms so that the person's last days may be spent with dignity and a good quality of life. Hospice care treats the person rather than the underlying disease; it focuses on quality of life rather than length. Hospice care is family oriented; it includes the patient and the family in the care and decision making. The care is planned to cover all 24 hours of a day, and all 7 days of the week. Care is given in the home, a hospital, nursing home, or hospice facility. Hospice care is what we resort to when the patient can no longer be helped by a curative approach, and the patient is expected to live less than 6 months. Hospice is palliative care, which means that the approach is to relieve symptoms, but not to cure the disease; its main purpose is the improvement of the patient’s quality of life. The patient, his/her family and the physician decider when hospice care should begin. Hospice care is managed by an interdisciplinary care team. What it means is that the different disciplines interact and work together towards a common goal. Doctors, nurses, CNA’s, social workers, therapists, and volunteers work together to care for the patient and his/her family. All of these people offer their support based on their individual special areas. Together, they give the patient and their loved ones complete palliative care aimed...
Words: 358 - Pages: 2
...Hospice Care The hospice care movement was born out of the concern for doing something for terminally ill and dying patients. Once medical care services for our terminally ill patients were no longer of benefit and our physicians could do no more, we had to turn to another source of care. One of the main objectives of the medical staff is to prolong life at all costs. When the medical staff no longer has the upper hand or mastery over disease and death, that’s when alternative care, such as hospice care can be provided. The hospice practice as it is today and as it was in the past focused on the control of pain for the terminally ill. Hospice care not only manages pain control but it also focuses on the physical, psychological, social and spiritual needs of the patient and their families. Hospice care focuses on reducing high hospital cost for the terminally ill too. Once the hospice care movement was accepted into our society, society was ready to talk about death and dying and caring for terminally ill patients. Our society was ready to support the hospice care movement in whatever way thy could. Committees were formed to discuss how to treat the terminally ill. This committee wanted to get involved. The community got involved as well as some of the other health care systems. Some of the health care systems wanted to develop hospice care at their facilities. Helping our terminally ill patients through the hospice care movement began to spread. Hope...
Words: 2839 - Pages: 12
... Many times a person and their family will turn to hospice care. The meaning of hospice is to provide care to a person who is terminally ill. Hospice does not speed up or postpone death. Hospice is a type of care that provides services to improve the quality of life for the patient and family. Hospice exists in the hope and belief that, through proper care and the encouragement of a caring and sensitive team, patients and their families may be free to achieve some level of mental and spiritual preparation for death that is comfortable to them. The goal is to help keep the person as pain and symptom-free as possible while offering spiritual and supportive counseling to the patient and family members. To receive hospice care, a physician has proclaimed that death can be expected within six months if the disease follows its normal course. This does not indicate that the care can only be provided for six months; hospice can provided the service as long as the person physicians and hospice team certifies that their condition remains life limiting. Hospice care is a family-centered team approach that includes, a doctor, nurse, social worker, counselor, religious leaders, home health aide, trained volunteers and bereavement counselors. They work together focusing on the dying person’s needs. They provide the terminally ill patient comfort, and dignity. Some specific services that are providing as a part of hospice team is palliative care which includes managing pain...
Words: 750 - Pages: 3
...Hospice care The term was from the medieval times when it referred to a place of shelter and rest for weary or ill travelers on a long journey. The name was first applied to specialized care for dying patients by physician Dame Cicely Saunders, who began her work with the terminally ill in 1948 and eventually went on to create the first modern hospice—St. Christopher’s Hospice—in a residential suburb of London. Sanders idea of specialized care for the dying to the United States during a 1963 visit with Yale University brought on the thought of helping the ones that couldn’t help them self and more and day were limited. To help them go in peace. It been an ongoing thing since the 1963 and still used to day Hospice is a type of care and a philosophy of care that focuses on the palliation of a terminally ill or seriously ill patient's symptoms. These symptoms can be physical, emotional, or psychosocial in nature. Hospice care focuses on bringing comfort, self-respect, and tranquility to people in the final years of life. Patients’ symptoms and pain are controlled, goals of care are discussed and emotional needs are supported. Hospice believes that the end of life is not a medical experience, it is a human experience that benefits from expert medical and holistic support that hospice offers. The concept of hospice has been evolving since the 11th century. Then, and for centuries thereafter, hospices were places of hospitality for the sick, wounded, or dying, as well as those...
Words: 1059 - Pages: 5
...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. But there are programs out there to help not just the dying person but also the families of the dying person. Palliative care and Hospice care are two of the programs in the U.S that are tailored to medical care, pain management, and emotional and spiritual support for the patient and family. At the center of hospice and palliative care is the belief that each of us has the right to die pain-free and with dignity, and that our families will receive the necessary support to allow us to do so. Palliative care focuses on relieving symptoms that are related to chronic illnesses, such as cancer, cardiac disease, respiratory disease, kidney failure, Alzheimer’s and other dementias, AIDS, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and other neurological diseases. World Health Organization defines Palliative care as “improving the quality of life of patients and families who face life-threatening illness, by providing pain and symptom relief, spiritual and psychosocial support to from diagnosis to the end of life and bereavement” (“WHO”, 2013). Palliative care is accessed at any point during the course of a chronic illness regardless of life expectancy. It is typically provided through regular physician...
Words: 900 - Pages: 4
...Children in Hospice Katrina Williams RES/110 April 26, 2012 Professor James Lazos Children in Hospice Research suggests that every year there are between 100,000 to 150,000 children born in the United States with a genetic disorder or defect. This represents approximately 20% of infant deaths each year. However, many of these children live to age well beyond the expectation, and some are enrolled in hospice. According to Armstrong-Daily and Zarbock (2001), “The concept of hospice today is applied to patients who are traveling through the final stages of their lives-in effect seeking shelter and comfort.” Hence, the main focus of this program is to prepare families for the death of a loved one. Although accepting these services is optional, families suddenly faced with the harsh reality that adulthood or even adolescence is not in their child’s future are in need of support services that offer much more than the comfort of a shoulder to cry on. There is an urgent need for organizations that strive to assist parents in helping the child to reach his or her full potential while encouraging loved ones to celebrate and cherish the time spent without the constant reminder that death is near. Caring for a child with a disability can be challenging. Immediately upon the child’s initial discharge from the hospital, life changes drastically. Parents are instantly bombarded with phone call from social workers, medical supply companies, and nursing staff for updates about...
Words: 1023 - Pages: 5
...Hospice Care LaToya L. Howard HCS/212 January 1, 2013 Denise Brown I first heard about hospice from a co-worker a few years ago when that co-worker was preparing to check her mother in hospice and she was in her forties. As she discussed with me her mother had a drug addiction problem her entire life. At that time I had never heard about hospice and I became interested in learning more about it. “Hospice is a special concept of care designed to provide comfort and support to patients and their families. Patients are referred to hospice when life expectancy is approximately six months or less. Hospice care can continue longer than six months if needed but requires physician certification” (Kinzbrunner, BM, 2002, p. 29-45). As I researched on the internet I found out during the 1960’s, Dr. Cicely Saunders began the modern hospice movement by establishing St. Christopher’s Hospice near London Street. According to Saunders (1975), the word “hospice” originated from the Latin word “hospitium” which means guesthouse. It was originally used to describe a place of shelter for sick travelers returning from religious pilgrimages. In addition to this information there have been more than 4,700 hospice programs in the United States. As I learned from my previous co-worker hospice care is there to make the patient’s life more comfortable as they prepare for their end of life and to provide support...
Words: 1164 - Pages: 5
...Hospice Care Hospice Care Hospice is a medical organization that helps care for patients who are near the end of life from a terminal illness. This is a group of professional health care workers that are there to take care of the patient and the patient’s family. They work as a team to make sure these patients have as less pain and problems dealing with the end of life as possible. They provide the family of the patient with the knowledge of how the dying process works. They will inform the patient and family stage by stage of what is happening. They will let the family members know the details of the sounds a person may make when the process begins so the family is well aware of what is going to happen. Although hospice helps the family deal with the loose of the patient, hospice caregiver’s main focus is to make the patient feel comfortable, by easing any discomfort possible during the process of dying. They also help the patient pass with as much dignity as possible. Hospice can start caring for a patient as early as six months, the physician of the patient has to recommend for services to be start. A patient may be on hospice for as little as a few days, no matter the length the services and care given is always important for the patient and family. Most of the patients on hospice are older, however hospice services will be provided to any patient in their final stages of life young, middle age or old. Many patients dealing with the final stages of their illness receive...
Words: 927 - Pages: 4
...Hospice Care Hannae Warren HCS/212 Kristie Racca October 24, 2011 Hospice is a term that is traced back to medieval times; it was a place where tired or sick travelers could find a place of shelter, rest, and care (“History of Hospice Care,” 2010). Since the medieval times hospice care has evolved into a contemporary program that offers patients facing terminal illnesses medical, spiritual, and psychological care. A physician named Dame Cicely Saunders first proposed the thought of specialized care for the terminally ill in 1963, and in 1967 she founded the first modern hospice in a residential suburb of London (“History of Hospice Care,” 2010). This was the beginning of modern day hospice care which provides patients the humane and compassionate care that is beneficial to people that are in their last phases of incurable diseases, so that they may live as much as possible and as comfortably before they pass away (“Hospice Care,” 2011). The Hospice viewpoint is that death is the final stage of life, they support life, and neither rush nor delay death (“Hospice Care, 2011). The ultimate goal of any hospice is to assist patients live their last days on earth as a alert and as pain-free as possible (“Hospice Care,” 2011). Hospice care is helpful when...
Words: 1280 - Pages: 6
...The Hospice Movement What is a hospice? A hospice is a place where people who are fatally ill can find care during their illness and then return home. The word hospice comes from the Latin word “hospes”, a word referring both to guests and hosts. Cicely Saunders She was a British registered nurse who pursued a career in medical social work due to chronic health problems. She fell in love with a dying patient (David Tasma, a Polish refugee), this helped her solidify her ideas that terminally ill patients needed compassionate care to help address their fears and concerns as well as comfort for physical symptoms. One of her most important quotes is: "You matter because you are you, and you matter to the last moment of your life." After the refugee's death she volunteered at St Luke's Home for the Dying Poor where she was told that she could best influence the treatment of a terminally ill person as a physician. She then entered medical school and achieved her degree in 1957. Saunders believed that it is more important to focus on the patient rather than on the disease and introduced the term “total pain”, which included the psychological, spiritual and the physical aspects. She also believed that the needs of the patient's family should not be ignored. She spread her philosophy internationally in a series of tours of the United States that began in 1963. In 1967, Cicely Saunders and her colleagues opened St. Christopher’s Hospice, the world’s first...
Words: 521 - Pages: 3
...Hospice care The goal of hospice is to help patients live their last days as alert and pain-free as possible. Hospice care tries to manage symptoms so that a person's last days may be spent with dignity and quality. Hospice care treats the person rather than the disease; it focuses on quality rather than length of life. Hospice care is family-centered -- it includes the patient and the family in making decisions. This care is planned to cover 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Hospice care can be given in the patient's home, a hospital, nursing home, or private hospice facility. Hospice care is used when you can no longer be helped by curative treatment, and you are expected to live about 6 months or less if the illness runs its usual course. Hospice gives you palliative care, which is treatment to help relieve disease-related symptoms, but not cure the disease; its main purpose is to improve your quality of life. You, your family, and your doctor decide together when hospice care should begin. A team of professionals In most cases, an interdisciplinary health care team manages hospice care. This means that many interacting disciplines work together. Doctors, nurses, social workers, counselors, home health aides, clergy, therapists, and trained volunteers care for you and your family. Each of these people offers support based on their special areas of expertise. Together, they give you and your loved ones complete palliative care aimed at relieving symptoms and giving...
Words: 449 - Pages: 2
...HOME HEALTH and HOSPICE Ruth Whitehead NUR 210 10/27/08 To do home health the nurse must be able to see the big picture. Clients will not always tell the nurse how they feel or if something is not right. The nurse must go into client’s homes and be able to look at the client and the situation and be able to ask the right questions, to find the answers. During my rotation with home health, I got to do a dressing change on a man that had fallen on his porch and his knee had gotten infected. His would had opened and needed a wound vac; at this point it was closed and almost healed. I did a sterile, wet to dry dressing. I assisted the nurse in flushing his PIC line and did a dressing change on that also. I assisted the nurse with her assessments and did vital signs for her. We did see one terminal client, and the biggest thing with her was pain control. I found out what the level of pain was and where it was and when it occurred and if it woke her at night and if her pain regime was adequate for her. The nurse called the pharmacy to get refills and then called the MD when there were no refills available. With every client that we saw teaching was very important part of the visit. We taught about weighing everyday and writing it done, and eating right, taking medications as directed, taking blood sugars everyday and writing it down so the nurse can see how things have been progressing since she had been there last. The nurse collaborates with...
Words: 405 - Pages: 2
...exercise I had little to no idea how home care health and hospice care was regulated by health insurance companies and Medicare. They both have different goals. Home health care aids at improving the patient’s condition through administration of treatment and other services, which must be covered by Medicare. According to Stanhope & Lancaster (2014), Hospice care can be either “home-based and/or in-patient…focus on comfort, pain relief, and mitigation of other distressing symptoms.” The simulation was focused on three different scenarios; home health care, transition to hospice and hospice care. This paper will discuss my experience with each scenario, the debriefing process and how the experience changed my nursing practice....
Words: 499 - Pages: 2
...The roots of hospice care began in the 1960s as a benevolent movement to provide dying patients more time with their families in a dignified manner. The hospice industry is now a fourteen-billion-dollar industry, run primarily by for profit industries. Hospice facilities play a crucial role in delivering palliative services to patients and their families. In the United States, about half of all deaths happen in a hospice program. When a patient is certified by their primary care physician and a hospice medical physician that they are terminally ill and has six months or less to live, they are then qualified to receive hospice benefits. Hospice care encompasses nursing, home health aide, social worker, and counseling services; most hospice care is provided in the home setting. As part of the health care industry, hospices are also subject to negligence cases. Negligent tort cases can arise when there is an “unintentional failure to live up to accepted standards of behaviors”. The four key elements to any negligence case are duty of care, breach of duty, harm, and causation. A legal study of various hospice negligence cases will be conducted to...
Words: 833 - Pages: 4
...Franciscan Hospice and Palliative Care Cindra Jones BSHS301 September 29, 2012 Christopher Bingham FRANCISCAN HOSPICE AND PALLIATIVE CARE I chose Franciscan Hospice and Palliative Care because I am interested in the valuable service they provide to the community. I wanted to know exactly what they do and how it is paid for so I made an appointment to talk to someone at the Franciscan Hospice and Palliative Care facility. Hospice is 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 a cure. The word “hospice” comes from the Latin “hospitum” meaning guesthouse. It was originally a place of shelter for sick and weary travelers. Palliative care is the treatment and relief of mental and physical pain for those with a life threatening illness. This treatment uses several types of therapy to make a person comfortable and free of pain. I was very fortunate to meet Pam Ketzner, the hospice educator and registered nurse at the Franciscan Hospice and Palliative Care facility located in University Place, Washington. Pam is in charge of educating the hospice nursing staff. With new equipment and medications always becoming available, she instructs the nurses on their proper use. She has been a nurse for 35 years. She was a visiting nurse to begin with and then became the head of education so she spends most of her time at the facility. She feels very privileged to be a part of...
Words: 1862 - Pages: 8
