Introduction:
Hospice has become one of the most widely used services for participants at the end of life. One-quarter of all patients that die in this country and two-thirds of those dying of chronic illnesses are managed through hospice care (Casarett et al, 2005).
The patient and their families have access to many services and interdisciplinary team members. Medicare benefits pay for medications (that are related to the diagnosis that places them on hospice) and durable medical equipment. The interdisciplinary team can include a home health aide and those that are experienced and trained in end-of-life care such as the nurse chaplain, social worker, volunteer coordinator and bereavement coordinator.
This can be a very tough time for the family as well as the nurse but there has never been a more rewarding time for a nurse that finds this their chosen field of nursing.
The following is a link to International Association for Hospice & Palliative Care. http://www.hospicecare.com/Organisation/. A lot of information and support for personnel in the field of hospice and palliative care can be found at this site and we will be accessing this site and many more throughout this course.sociation for Hospice & Palliative
Casarett, D., Crowley, R., Stevenson, C., Xie, s., and Teno, J. (2005) Retrieved from:http://web.ebscohost.com.lib.kaplan.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=3&hid=25&sid=8c05059d-c23e-4a71-a431-1a75650c1ac1%40sessionmgr1
