The idea that a hospice is a physical location is a widespread misunderstanding around this type of care. Hospice isn’t a physical location but a concept of care that aims to comfort everyone involved in the patient’s care, including their loved ones, caregivers, and friends. Even if your loved one’s condition requires that they be admitted to an inpatient institution for hospice care, the vast majority of hospice care is offered in the comfort of your own home,
Quality Hospice Care Relies on the Hospice Team
When it comes to holistic end-of-life care, the multidisciplinary hospice team caring for your loved one holds the key. As a team of medical, psychosocial, and spiritual professionals dedicated to your loved one’s well-being, the hospice staff is there to support and care for everyone involved in their care, including you and your loved ones.
Doctor of the Family Medicine
The primary care physician can serve as the current and trusted physician if requested. In addition to evaluating whether or not your loved one qualifies for hospice care, the doctor is responsible for making the initial referral to a hospice program and can continue to actively assist in providing care for your loved one at home.
The medical director of hospice care
It is the hospice medical director’s responsibility to develop and oversee the execution of a patient’s care plan and consult with their physician on how to improve and adjust the patient’s treatment.
Case Managers are registered, nurses
To ensure that your loved one’s care needs and those of caregivers and family are being fulfilled, the RN case manager will visit 2-3 times a week—or more if your loved one requires it—and supervise the care delivered.
Worker in Social Services
As part of the end-of-life process, a social worker works with you, your loved one, your caregivers, and your family to create a plan of care for your loved one’s psychosocial needs and to provide counselling, emotional support, and assistance with paperwork, financial tasks, and other duties.
Chaplain
The chaplain serves as the hospice team’s non-denominational spiritual care leader. It is the chaplain’s job to assist you and your family members in coping with the spiritual aspects of death.
Counsellors for the Bereaved
When a loved one is diagnosed with a terminal illness, a grief counsellor is there to help them comprehend and process the inevitable changes in their lives. For the period of your loved one’s stay in hospice care and up to 13 months after the death, bereavement services are given by Medicare regulations.
Aid to the Elderly
Your loved one will be cared for by a home health aide, who can also teach you about how to effectively care for your loved one at home in the final stages of their life.
Volunteers for Hospice
Hospice volunteers provide companionship and assistance with household chores, errands, and meal preparation for patients and their caretakers.
Caregiver
You must play an active role in your loved one’s care as the foundation of the hospice team and are involved in practically every aspect of their final days at home.
More than 90% of hospice patients are cared for where they are most comfortable — their own home. Understandably, some individuals and families may be wary about allowing even a small group of strangers to care for a loved one. People who have been raising their families on their own may perceive this as an intrusion on their privacy, while others may see it as an opportunity.
Hospice is Your Care, Your Way
It’s your hospice, so you get to decide how you want to be cared for.
A physician, nurse, assistant, social worker, chaplain, and volunteer are all allocated to you, and their visits are planned at a time that you both agree upon. As a rule, you’ll have one member of your hospice care at home team visit you at once. Besides treating the patient, they also educate and support their loved ones. The team relies on your input and guidance to effectively serve your requirements. The patient will be treated with respect and understanding. You’ll look forward to their visits as you come to know them.
Hospice Care at Home – What’s Included?
Once the patient’s admission has been completed, the hospice team will interact with the patient’s primary care physician and the hospice physician to discuss the patient’s medical history, current symptoms, and prognosis.
The team’s therapist provides an emotional and psychological assessmentCounsellingge that is respectful of the patient’s and family’s religious convictions; hospice chaplains will contact the patient and family.
Volunteers might be summoned at the request of the requesting party. They can give respite, errands, and other tasks for the patient’s family and company and support for the family members.
Individual members of the team are scheduled to see you regularly to anticipate their arrival.
Any medical equipment required will be supplied to the following addresses:
- Oxygen
- a hospital bed
- Toilet near the bed
- Also included in the delivery are any necessary medications.
- As your loved one’s pain and symptoms vary, you’ll be given information and instruction to help you cope.
- Seven days a week, 24 hours per day, holidays included, patients and their families access care and support services.
- We offer inpatient hospice care to patients and their families if they cannot manage their pain and symptoms in the comfort of their own homes.
- Our inpatient hospice care facilities also provide family respite care as part of the Medicare Hospice benefit.
- Your hospice care team at home develops an individualised care plan of care.
As a patient, you have a team of doctors, nurses, and other health care professionals working together to create a care plan tailored to your specific needs. Each week, the team meets to discuss and update the treatment plan based on the patient’s progress.
The best part of hospice care is that it’s all about you. When caring for a sick, the patient and their loved ones are the experts. Your loved one’s care and assistance are in the hands of your team, who take their cues from you.