Hospice care focuses on quality of life. It is a specialized program of care designed to support patients with life-limiting illnesses and their families. Hospice care encompasses palliative care which is designed to provide aggressive pain and symptom management, including a spiritual and emotional component of care.
Hospice care treats the person, rather than the illness. This means we want every patient to have every aspect of pain managed- physical, emotional, social, spiritual, and financial. St. Anthony’s Hospice services are centered around each patient, in order to effectively manage the patient’s needs. In order to accomplish this, the hospice interdisciplinary team is made up of nurses, social workers, chaplains, medical director(s), primary care provider, hospice care aides, nurse practitioner, volunteers, pharmacist, and optional therapy providers.
Let’s take a dive into the roles of the different disciplines who make up the care team.
Nurse
-Assess comfort and other symptoms that require attention
-Perform procedures such as wound care
-Educate caregivers about the disease and proper symptom management
-Regularly communicate with the patient’s physician and medical director(s)
-Suggests and helps obtain needed equipment and services
-Offers support and education as physical changes occur
Social Worker
-Works closely with patient and family to create and maintain a supportive caregiving system
-Helps address personal, financial, and emotional issues
-Assists with gathering community resources
-Helps family arrange caregiving in home
-Provides information on Advance Directives
-Assists with funeral planning and arrangements
Chaplain
-Provides spiritual counseling while respecting patient/family beliefs
-Explores unresolved issues surrounding meaning/value of life and spiritual concerns
-Helps with spiritual needs/concerns in a non-denominational way
-Provides bereavement support
Medical Director(s)
-Certifies the patient is terminally ill with a life expectancy of 6 months or less, should the disease run its normal course without intervention of symptom management or curative options
– Leads interdisciplinary team in developing and carrying out patient care plan
-Provides consultation to other physicians regarding hospice care
Primary Care Provider
-Can be a physician, nurse practitioner, or hospice medical director
-Involved with changes in medications, procedures, tests, etc.
-Works with hospice care team to address comfort measures
-Consults as needed with the hospice medical director to achieve optimal symptom management and quality of life
Hospice Care Aide
-Provides personal care such as bathing, changing bed linens, shaving, etc.
-Assists with toileting and transferring patients
-Watches for skin issues such as tears or bruising
-Teaches personal care techniques to family and/or caregiver(s)
Nurse Practitioner
-Primarily completes face-to-face assessments
-Involved in patient’s care plan
Volunteers
-Provide intermittent respite to family/caregivers
-Read or do light activities with patient, and actively listen to patient
-Run errands to help caregiver and patient
-Socialize with patient in skilled nursing facilities and assisted living facilities
Pharmacist
-Participates in interdisciplinary team meetings as a medication resource
-Recommends medication use/dosage, alternative medications, and optimal medications in line with a patients care plan
So you see, hospice care works to treat the whole person. This takes a village in order to be sure each and every one of St. Anthony’s Hospice patients are cared for and are receiving optimal end of life care.
If you or a loved one is in need of hospice or palliative care, please call us at (270) 826-2326 or make an online referral.
