What does it indicate when somebody is in hospice care?
When you have a terminally ill person at home, and the treatments no more work to cure or slow the disease, you can opt to stop it and provide palliative care to the person. Many people opine that a patient or family member gives up on the hope of life; hence they choose end-of-life care. There are various explanations why a person would pick quality care. This article discusses the meaning and working of palliative care. Read on!
What is Hospice Care?
A terminal illness often suffers physical, emotional, and mental pain. The doctors try their level best to provide the best treatment. But, when the treatments tend to stop working on the illness, you can discuss with the doctor and choose hospice care as a last resort. You will find a team of health care professionals to provide a quality life to the patient. The group consists of:
- Doctor
- Nurse
- Spiritual guide
- Home health aide
- Trained volunteers
- Social workers
- Pharmacists
- Bereavement counselors
- Physiotherapists and speech therapists.
Who can opt for Palliative Care?
Any person who has a life-limiting illness such as cancer, heart disease, etc., opts for end-of-life care. In most cases, the doctors certify that the patient has six months or less time to live.
How does Hospice Care help?
After discussing it with the doctor and other family members, the patient can enroll in palliative care. The end-of-life caregivers primarily focus on the patient’s quality of life. They help the person live a better life by taking care of his spiritual and social needs. Also, the bereavement counselor helps prepare the family members to tackle the grief of their loved one’s death.
Moreover, palliative care also helps strengthen decision-making related to the loved one. You also learn to recognize when your death is near and how to provide comfort in the last few days and hours before the end.
Where is the end-of-life care provided?
It is upon the family members and the ill person to decide the place of care. He may want to be around his family and friends in his last days. So, it is the patient’s home for comfort care. The family members act as primary caregivers. This level of palliative care is routine home care. The patients get home care with nurses and at-home healthcare services. Other levels include:
- Continuous Home Care: A team stays at home to continually track the patients’ health.
- General Inpatient Care: The palliative care team sets up a hospital setting at home to provide short-term care and subside symptoms and pain.
- Respite Care: The team shifts the patient to a hospital or end-of-life care center depending on the health condition when the family members need some time off from caregiving.
Wrapping up
The decision to put a loved one in end-of-life care is challenging. It takes a toll on the emotional and mental health of both; the patient and the family members. But you should understand that it helps provide a better quality of life. Patients get the much-needed spiritual, mental, emotional, and social guidance. They accept their chronic illness and want to have a good life before departing. So, read through comfort care services and pick ones based on your requirements.
