A lot of people get confused between palliative care and hospice care. While both programs aim to help people in need of additional support, they are still different when you look at them side-by-side.
Hospice care focuses more on providing comfort for people who are at the last stage of their lives. Typically, these are people who only have at least six months or less to live. Most of the time, they are the patients who have exhausted all their options for treatments and finally decided that it’s time to let it be.
Meanwhile, palliative care focuses on patients who are undergoing treatments who can’t support themselves alone. An example would be people undergoing chemotherapy who need special care.
However, in this article, we’ll focus more on hospice care and what people should expect from the service.
1. Hospice Care Can Be Provided by a Whole Team.
In hospice care, the patient will be taken care of by a team of professionals, including doctors, nurses, counselors, social workers, and spiritual figures. A hospice pays attention to the patient’s physical pain and the pain that comes with the suffering. The team members help the person in need to go through emotional distress from spiritual, family, and financial issues.
Hospice care also handles medication management to relieve pain, physical methods to alleviate pain, such as massages, baths, and the use of comfort garments. A hospice professional also tends to the patient’s physical needs, such as toilet use and grooming. If they need assistance within the family, it can also be a part of hospice care.
For family members who need it, they also offer spiritual, psychological, and grief counseling. Overall, the goal is to maintain quality life until the patient’s last moments.
2. Hospice Care Can be Anywhere.
Hospice care provides the flexibility of being anywhere that the patient desires. Unlike palliative care, patients are not required to stay in hospitals as they do not need to undergo treatment anymore. Patients can choose to be at home or at a long-term care facility, like nursing homes or an intensive care facility.
The role of the hospice care team is to honor the patient’s wishes. Determining the location depends on the patient’s medical needs. Usually, most of them choose to stay at home, with their families by their side.
3. Hospice Care Supports the Family.
Hospice care isn’t only for patients who are on their last journey in life. It’s also for family members that need help processing what’s happening to their loved one. These programs help people process their feelings of grief and cope with the changes that are happening as their loved one inches closer to the end.
People who are experiencing emotional stress tend to become withdrawn, agitated, restless, and even angry. Some members may even feel confused or delusional. This is a significant change in their lives that can be too difficult for them to accept. Hospice care can include counseling sessions to help patients contend with their mortality.
Conclusion
Facing a family member’s end is a significant transition which most families struggle through. However, someone’s life before passing shouldn’t be more complicated than it already is. Getting hospice care should help both the family and the patient live their best lives until the end.
Bridge Home Health and Hospice is committed to bringing the best hospice care for the people of California. Inquire about our hospice care programs on our website today and make the journey to the end as peaceful as possible.
