HOSPICE
HOSPICE Peter .E. Eze (Psychology of adulthood and aging) Edinboro University of Pennsylvania
As a patient admitted into a nursing home or any long-term care facility on grounds of receiving hospice care which is care given to patients who have a short while to live due to their current diagnosis (cancer, HIV, cardiac failure etc.) there is usually a host of challenges and concerns on the patient’s end, irrespective of the approach taken by family members, nurses and the entire hospice team to ensure a better end-of-life experience for the patients, which include managing pain, reducing distress, illnesses and various symptoms, patient’s dignity, giving psychological, spiritual and emotional support to patients and family member etc. Writing from a patient’s point of view, there are a number of concerns patients give priority while in a long-term care facility. Pain management is often of great concern to the health-care facility when giving hospice care to patients. It is hard for patients to cope with the event of imminent death with so much physical pain; hospitals spend so much money to ensure that pain medications and other non-drug therapy are put in place to control pain. An article on the website www.hospicenet.org particularly talks about morphine being used as a form of pain suppressant and the various myths that have being tied down to using the pain relieving drug, known as a narcotic or “opiate”. Family members and relatives are usually very concerned about such substance given to patients in the name of pain control but as a long term-care facility in charge of such patients, it is the duty of the hospital or
As a patient admitted into a nursing home or any long-term care facility on grounds of receiving hospice care which is care given to patients who have a short while to live due to their current diagnosis (cancer, HIV, cardiac failure etc.) there is usually a host of challenges and concerns on the patient’s end, irrespective of the approach taken by family members, nurses and the entire hospice team to ensure a better end-of-life experience for the patients, which include managing pain, reducing distress, illnesses and various symptoms, patient’s dignity, giving psychological, spiritual and emotional support to patients and family member etc. Writing from a patient’s point of view, there are a number of concerns patients give priority while in a long-term care facility. Pain management is often of great concern to the health-care facility when giving hospice care to patients. It is hard for patients to cope with the event of imminent death with so much physical pain; hospitals spend so much money to ensure that pain medications and other non-drug therapy are put in place to control pain. An article on the website www.hospicenet.org particularly talks about morphine being used as a form of pain suppressant and the various myths that have being tied down to using the pain relieving drug, known as a narcotic or “opiate”. Family members and relatives are usually very concerned about such substance given to patients in the name of pain control but as a long term-care facility in charge of such patients, it is the duty of the hospital or
References: 1) Wolfet, A. (n.d.). Helping Yourself Live While Dying. Helping Yourself Live While Dying. Retrieved , from http://hospicenet.org/html/help_yourself.html 2) potash, j. (n.d.). Pain Control: Dispelling the Myths. Pain Control: Dispelling the Myths. Retrieved , from http://hospicenet.org/html/pain_myths.html 3) Relieving Pain Without Medications. (n.d.). Relieving Pain Without Medications. Retrieved , from http://hospicenet.org/html/without_meds.html 4) Hospice: Generic Drugs. (n.d.). Hospice: Generic Drugs. Retrieved , from http://hospicenet.org/html/generic.html 5) woodland, L. (n.d.). Hospice: Choosing How To End. Hospice: Choosing How To End. Retrieved , from http://hospicenet.org/html/choosing_how.html 6) Artificial Nutrition and Hydration and End of Life Decision Making: Usefulness and Refusal. (0000, May 3). WebMD. Retrieved , from http://www.webmd.com/balance/faqs-artificial-nutrition-hydration-end-of-life-decision-making-medref 7) National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization. (n.d.). Advance Care Planning. Retrieved , from http://www.nhpco.org/advance-care-planning