Hospice care can be a necessary part of end-of-life care. With the support of good hospice care, your loved one can receive the treatment needed for comfort in their final days.

If you have someone close to you who needs hospice care, we encourage you to contact us at Mary T today. Our specialists can offer the guidance and support you need to make the best decision for your family.

What Are the Goals of Hospice Care?

The goals of hospice care begin with ensuring that the patient has improved quality of life during the last phases of an illness or disease; specifically, one that cannot be cured. When someone has a disease that can’t be cured, it means that hospice care is needed.

The goals of hospice care include providing treatment that serves to lessen the severity of the patient’s symptoms. When a medical condition is terminal, hospice care works to make the patient as comfortable as possible.

This is done in coordination with the patient’s primary hospice doctor, who prescribes medication for the care team to administer. Although the medication isn’t intended to cure, it can help the ill experience less pain and suffering.

What’s more, family members and loved ones can offer their support in an effort to lift the spirits of the terminally ill patient.

Clergy may also offer spiritual guidance throughout the final months of the patient’s life. Emotional support is essential in hospice, too, as it is a big part of the help patients need during this time.

What Are 4 Goals for End-of-Life Care?

While the wishes of terminally ill patients vary, this care program tries to provide the same hospice treatment goals for everyone. This care includes help in the following areas:

Mental and emotional needs
Physical comfort
Spiritual issues
Practical tasks

Some patients in hospice wish to be left alone, while others desire ongoing support and care from family members and people around them. This level of care is designed to fulfill the needs of terminally ill patients.

Communication Matters

The goal is to ensure that as much care and support is available as possible. Some families may have a different goal in mind from the next. It is therefore essential to communicate these desires with the hospice doctor and care team as often as possible.

Ask questions and request information about these goals. This will make it easier to develop a plan that has the patient’s wishes in mind.

Although death is inevitable for everyone, people are affected differently by it. As such, there needs to be a unique hospice care program in place that serves to provide services centered on each patient.

Ongoing Hospice Care

But just because there is no possibility for a cure, that doesn’t mean that hospice care should cease. With the 4 goals of end-of-life care, your loved one can experience medical support from caregivers, as well as support from friends and family.

Patient and family connection is very important, as it helps to provide for the mental and emotional needs of the suffering. Nursing staff is also available to assist with physical comfort, and clergy helps with spiritual issues.

Caregivers take care of many of the practical tasks, ensuring that all aspects of end-of-life care are met. With all of this care in action, patients with a terminal illness can find respite in the final months or days of their lives.

Support for Hospice Caregivers

It’s important to note that caregivers who provide care services for patients in hospice are working very physically demanding jobs. As such, they, too, require patient and family support.

Whether the caregiver is a licensed health care professional or a family member, they may need their own respite and social support. This ensures that they will be able to provide the best care possible, whether at the patient’s home or in a healthcare facility.

What Does Hospice Do at End of Life?

Hospice makes sure that the patient’s primary wishes are met. From lessening their pain to ensuring that the patient is in the facility of their choosing, hospice works with the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization so that all of the patient’s needs are met.

It is important for the patient to have as many options as possible. By being provided with all available services and medical resources, the patient can get the necessary care.

Working Together

Hospice also works together with hospice doctors to ensure that the patient is provided with the medications they need for fewer symptoms. This is done to give the patient comfort care during their final days.

Nursing staff may provide medications in either the patient’s home or in a hospital, depending on the patient’s wishes. With a focus on good social care and ongoing care, hospice is a necessary component to the patient’s final days of life.

Families are encouraged to take part in this program if it meets the desires of the patient.

Contact Mary T Today

Our team is here for you. If you have any questions or would like more information on hospice, we will be happy to assist you. We can help find the most suitable place for your family member, whether in a local facility or at home.

You don’t have to face hospice care on your own. Please feel free to contact us so we can help you through this difficult time.