What is Hospice?
Hospice and palliative care are a set of services that help the patient and family cope with the effects of terminal illness. The goal of hospice and palliative care is to enhance the quality of life for patient and family and allow patients to spend their remaining time in their home. Hospice and palliative care provide comfort when cure is no longer possible or when curative treatment is no longer effective or desired.
Considered to be the model for quality, compassionate care for people facing a life-limiting illness or injury, hospice and palliative care involve a team-oriented approach to medical care, pain management, and emotional and spiritual support expressly tailored to the patient's needs and wishes. Support is provided to the patient's loved ones as well. Services are provided through a hospice agency by a team of hospice professionals and volunteers.
These professionals provide direct care during their visits and also teach the family how to care for the patient in between visits. With simple training, almost every family can care for their loved one who is receiving hospice or palliative care services. The focus of hospice relies on the belief that each of us has the right to die pain-free and with dignity, and that our loved ones will receive the necessary support to allow us to do so.
Hospice can be provided in freestanding hospice facilities, hospitals, nursing homes, residential care facilities, other long-term care facilities and, most commonly, in the patient's home. Hospice is available to persons of any age, religion or race. The unit of care in hospice is the patient and family. A customized plan of care is developed to meet their needs. The plan of care includes basic services that every hospice must offer patients and families-these are called "core services":
- Medical Services
- Nursing Services
- Medical Social Services
- Counseling In addition to services, the hospice plan of care specifies what the hospice will provide in terms of:
- Medical Equipment
- Medications Based on the hospice's assessment of patient/family needs, the hospice plan of care may offer other services as well:
- Home Health Aide services, to assist in personal care for the patient.
- Volunteers, to provide companionship to the patient and support to the family.
- Various types of therapy to enhance the patient's life and functioning, such as speech therapy, occupational therapy and physical therapy.
Since grief is a normal response to loss and death, hospice also offers bereavement support and counseling to help family members deal with their grief, for at least a year after the death of their loved one. You can find a hospice program by referring to the "Find a Provider" tool on this and other pages on this website. Additionally, talking to your physician is one way to locate an agency to provide the needed services. Another way to locate an agency is to ask family and friends. Often they or a family member have previously received care and could provide a referral. Patients today have a wide range of choices not available only a few years ago.
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