HOSPICE CARE
Hospice care is the kind of care that focuses on the philosophy of palliation of chronic, terminal or serious illness by providing medical services, emotional support, and spiritual resources. Palliation specializes in the provision of relief from symptoms with the intention of improving the quality of life for both the patient and the family. According to Christensen and Kockrow (2006), hospice care has basic goals as follows:
• control and alleviate patient’s symptoms
• allows the patient and caregiver to be involved in the decision regarding plan of care
• encourages patient and caregiver to live life to the fullest
• provides continuous support to maintain patient/family confidences and reassurances to achieve these goals
• educates and supports the primary caregiver in the home setting that …show more content…
Sometimes team members such as nurses, work 8 to 12hour shifts around the clock or pay visits one to two times a week to care for the patient. These services are also offered in long-term care facilities such as nursing homes and in acute care facilities such as hospitals.
Usually the following medical criteria must be met for a patient to be eligible for hospice care:
• The patient’s condition is incurable, in other words called a terminal illness.
• The attending physician must confirm that the patient’s illness is terminal and the patient has a prognosis of 6 months or less (Christensen and Kockrow, 2006).
A team known as the interdisciplinary team, comprising different professional that work together develops and supervises the plan of care in conjunction with those involved in the care. The patient or family is able to reach any team member at any time. Hospice Care - Topic Overview (n.d.) mentions that hospice team includes the following besides doctors and nurses:
Medicine specialists
Social workers
Nursing
Hospice care is the kind of care that focuses on the philosophy of palliation of chronic, terminal or serious illness by providing medical services, emotional support, and spiritual resources. Palliation specializes in the provision of relief from symptoms with the intention of improving the quality of life for both the patient and the family. According to Christensen and Kockrow (2006), hospice care has basic goals as follows:
• control and alleviate patient’s symptoms
• allows the patient and caregiver to be involved in the decision regarding plan of care
• encourages patient and caregiver to live life to the fullest
• provides continuous support to maintain patient/family confidences and reassurances to achieve these goals
• educates and supports the primary caregiver in the home setting that …show more content…
Sometimes team members such as nurses, work 8 to 12hour shifts around the clock or pay visits one to two times a week to care for the patient. These services are also offered in long-term care facilities such as nursing homes and in acute care facilities such as hospitals.
Usually the following medical criteria must be met for a patient to be eligible for hospice care:
• The patient’s condition is incurable, in other words called a terminal illness.
• The attending physician must confirm that the patient’s illness is terminal and the patient has a prognosis of 6 months or less (Christensen and Kockrow, 2006).
A team known as the interdisciplinary team, comprising different professional that work together develops and supervises the plan of care in conjunction with those involved in the care. The patient or family is able to reach any team member at any time. Hospice Care - Topic Overview (n.d.) mentions that hospice team includes the following besides doctors and nurses:
Medicine specialists
Social workers
Nursing