The Hospice Nurse: A Case Study

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The patient has a chronic health issue that has been brushed to the side, but becomes noticeable by family and friends. Family and friends advise the patient to go to the doctors or hospital for an exam, and perhaps maybe it will be nothing or something a little medicine can fix. The doctor orders numerous tests and blood work then explains, “These are just routine tests; I will let you know when we receive the results”. When the results come back a horrified look overcomes the patients face after being informed that the tests revealed a terminally ill diagnosis. After hearing the dreadful news, the patient needs to make a choice of whether to prolong life expectancy if possible or to begin palliative care. When palliative care is chosen,…show more content…
The nurse provides pain management for comfort and ease at the end of their life. There is a great deal of hands on care and therapeutic communication not only for the patient but for the family as well. The hospice nurse gives patient education to the daily caregivers and family involved in the patient’s care. The hospice nurse also needs to take care of self because he/she needs to be physically and emotionally equipped to handle severe illness and death. Hospice care can be provided in home, a correctional facility, or at a hospice residential facility. The hospice nurse works with other resources such as physical therapy, occupational therapy, chaplain and social work. The nurse’s initial responsibilities are assessing the patient, giving care as needed such as dressing wounds or giving medications, and organizing the plan of care such as monitoring costs and scheduling nursing and nursing aid visits. Other important roles are being attentive to the patient and family’s needs that arise. Making everyone feel at ease, and being highly empathetic as the disease progresses which becomes taxing on both the patient and family members. (Palliative Care,…show more content…
The first hospice, St. Christopher’s Hospice, was created by Dame Cicely Saunders who began caring for terminally ill patients in 1948. In 1963 she gave a lecture on caring for the terminally ill at Yale University which was the United States first introduction to hospice care. In 1974, the first hospice and in home care in the United States was started by Florence Wald, called Connecticut Hospice. In the 70’s hospice care demands increased and the federal government grew interested and determined it was a cost effective means of humane care for terminally ill patients. In 1982, federal funds go to hospice care for eligible people called Medicare hospice benefits. In 1986, Arthur Vining Davis foundation provides funding for spiritual communication within hospice care. In 1993, certification of the hospice and palliative nurses was created by the national board and is associated with the hospice and palliative nurses association. It was created to ensure that nurses had the competency and skills needed for the profession. Today people not only realize hospice can be provided at home but that it is covered under Medicare insurance. Due to increase in elderly population, co-morbid health concerns, and an advance in technology, the need for hospice will continue. Hospice is beneficial not only to the patient but to the patient’s family as well;

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