Hospice

On Friday May 5th, 2017, we had the opportunity to have Professor Patricia Whitney, MA visit our class and talk about hospice. In my paper, I will include three distinct pieces of information and explained them. The first one was that if I want to pursue a career as a asocial worker in hospice, I need to have a Master’s Degree in social work. This does make sense because if I get a Master’s degree, that would mean that I would get the opportunity to get more information/education on…

As of 2014 there were 53.8 million Medicare recipients, of those 53.5 million were recipients of Medicare Part A (NCPSSM, 2016). Those 53.5 million individuals qualify for receiving the Medicare Hospice Benefit (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, 2016). With an older adult (65 and up) population continuously aging and growing, the need for end of life care continues to grow as well (US Department of Health and Human Services , 2015). According to Department of Health and Human Services…

Hospice is a service that was created to provide the patient comfort, dignity and help reduce the suffering that the patient and his family is enduring. Since hospice is a medical based service, many medical professionals, doctors, nurses, therapists, aides as well as case workers are employed to provide the best care possible at the end of someone’s life. Since the terminally ill are provided medical services, there are certain rules and regulations they must follow according to Medicare,…

Tuesday, November 10th: Today I was at Hospice Home. It was the Hospice Home building location, not the home visits. I had a good experience with the nurse I shadowed and learned a lot. I learned quickly that being a Hospice nurse at the Hospice Home is very different than other types of nursing. Right away something that stuck me is that the nurses in this setting have more autonomy in their practice. They make a lot more independent decisions and then just notify the physician as to what they…

The Tragic Saturday Working in palliative care, I have been by the bedside of many dying patients; I have been there for their last breath. Comforting families while they grieve is hard, but rewarding. I am often told by friends and family that they could not do what I do and that I have a gift. This gift, the ability to care for others when they are no longer able to care for themselves, is what made the decision to move my father-in-law, Harald, into our home an easy one. After being…

Hospice workers are such special people! I was blown away by the kindness the nurses showed me and all of the other individuals they interacted with. It was evident that they loved their jobs and caring for others! I found myself admiring the compassion and courage they displayed over and over. I can’t imagine the emotional strain of continually losing patients, and watching as patients decline. I think that an unusual circumstance allowed me to see just how difficult hospice work can be at…

Hospice care has been around longer than one may think. It can be traced back as far as medieval times. The word hospice came from the root word ‘hospitality’ and became known as simply ‘hospice’ in the 1800s and more accordingly was used to describe caring for dying patients. In the beginning a hospice was a place for ill or tired travelers to rest. It became what we now know them as after a physician by the name of Dame Cicely Saunders began working with people with terminal illnesses. She…

(2012), hospice is a “homelike care that provides physical and emotional comfort to dying people and their families (p. 130). The hospice movement was founded by Cicely Sanders, who was a nurse and physician that noticed the need for an organization that will help people die with dignity and in comfort (Macionis, 2012). Although hospice care has its advantages such as offering a familiar environment with a team of professionals that will address all aspects of a patient’s illness, hospice…

Founded in 1977, Hospice of the Valley is a nonprofit organization geared towards providing palliative care for the elderly. Currently, Hospice of the Valley is the largest non profit organization in the United States, helping approximately 2,500 patients a day and 13,200 patients a year. The hospice receives its revenue from Medicare, donations, insurance companies, and from private pay patients (“Hospice Concept of Care” 11). To be an eligible patient for Hospice of the Valley, the individual…

at Covenant Hospice in Pensacola, Florida. I was under the direct supervision of Ms. Suzanne Kelley, who serves as the consultant pharmacist. Covenant Hospice, formerly known as Hospice of Northwest Florida, was founded in 1980 by a committee of representatives from area hospitals in Pensacola. Covenant Hospice is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing comprehensive, compassionate services to patients and their loved ones during times of life-limiting illnesses. Covenant Hospice is…