Continuing Education in Understanding and Traversing Healthcare Today
As we traverse our healthcare situations in life we sometimes are required to educate ourselves to better understand how to get the best care we can. Today, a growing field in medical care is Palliative Care. Most of us now know what Hospice Care is, maybe because we have had a family member or friend who was put on Hospice Care, but may be unaware of this other option for care. NIH On Palliative and Hospice Care
A bit of education for you today is our goal – Hospice vs Palliative Care.
Palliative & Hospice Care
Hospice Care is usually ordered by an attending physician when the person is given less than six months to live. Now we know that doctors are not gods and don’t know exactly when a person might die so there are other issues related to a person going on Hospice Care. Hospice Care Defined
- A person has been under a medical treatment for an illness.
- And the patient has been told that the treatment(s) they have been receiving are no longer giving any benefit.
- The medical team has decided that there are no known treatments for this person’s illness at this time so,
- The person and/or the doctor have made a decision to stop all treatments.
- Then Hospice is ordered either in a hospital setting or a home setting.
- Hospice is aimed at giving the patient care to make them comfortable, pain free if possible, and elective continuation of meds such as blood pressure or gastro-type meds for example.
Palliative Care
Palliative & Hospice Care
A fairly new term to many of us is Palliative Care. This type of care follows a bit different type of determination for adding to a patient’s care. Healthline on Care Types
- A patient is being treated for a serious illness.
- The patient wants to have a better quality of life while going through treatment so there are other options.
- Treatment can be continued. Example: still doing chemotherapy
- Educating the patient about their illness and the progressive steps of treatment or the illness is key for allaying fears.
- Also, the team can assist in discovering other resources for the patient.
- Assessing the needs from a practical perspective, and spiritual if requested, on an ongoing basis also helps. These needs can change frequently so keeping in tune with these changes can be handled by the team and the patient together.
Conclusion
Life is full of choices. We know most people in their healthcare journey may be aware of only the one option offered by the first physician they see. If in some way we can help during your journey for yourself or your loved ones, please let us know. Our heart is in our services.
Check out our Care options to take care of your loved ones. Click on the link above (Our Services). We offer both Palliative Care and Hospice Care as some of our service offerings.