Hospice care focuses on pain and symptom management, including anxiety and depression, to improve quality of life for the patient and the whole family.
The truth about hospice care is that we are here to help patients live as well as possible for as long as possible. We might anticipate death as a reality but we are not here to hasten it. We can’t alter the fact that the patient is declining. It’s the disease that’s causing it, but there’s no reason for anyone to suffer in pain and in fear for too often and for too long.
People are most fearful about suffering at the end of life. They know they’re going to pass,, but they don’t want to suffer, and that’s why medications and support measures are provided to ensure that the patient’s pain and symptoms are managed at the end of life. Hospice care is designed to provide the support and care and therefore improve quality of life even during the last days.
Since patients are often referred to us late in their illness, many people assume that hospice care is only for the final days of life and that enrolling in hospice means death is imminent, occurring within a few days.
Hospice care benefits the patient and family. It gives them a dedicated care team consisting of a physician, skilled nurse, aide, social worker, chaplain, and volunteer. The focus is on caring for the patient holistically. The team also provides education and support for the family. Assistance is available 24/7 – nights, weekends, and even on holidays.
Many people find it difficult to talk about or plan their end-of-life care, but most have strong opinions about how they would want to be treated and cared for in their final months, weeks and days.
The most reliable way to ensure your end-of-life wishes are honored by establishing an advance directive: An advance directive is a legal document that spells out for family members and healthcare providers the types of care and interventions the patient or the family prefers to be performed during a health crisis or incident. Not only will advance care planning legally define your end-of-life requests, but it will also avert crises and ease the decision-making burden for your family,caregivers, physicians and the rest of the healthcare team.
A key factor that should guide decisions about particular procedures and services at the end of life, based on the patient’s wishes. Patients who desire quality end of life care often want to be freed by tubes and equipment in their final hours, allowing them to be naturally and physically intimate to their family members and able to receive the type of comfort they desire.
Family members and caregivers play an important role by supporting a loved one through the dying process:
If the patient can still eat or drink, offer small sips of water/liquids, ice chips, chopped or soft food in minimal amounts. Take cues from the patient when to stop and when to keep on feeding.
If the patient can no longer drink, keep the lips and mouth moist with swabs, cotton or even moisturizers..
If the patient can no longer eat or refuses to eat, provide alternative forms of nourishment: conversation, physical touch, music, singing, poetry, humor, gentle massage, reading, prayers or other acts of service and care.
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