When people get to the terminal stage then it will be of significant importance to ensure that they are comfortable and their dignity is respected.
Hospice care in the home is a kind-hearted option because patients are given the opportunity to die in a comfortable familiar environment with family. Compared to the previous approach, this one looks at patients in terms of physical, emotional, spiritual, as well as psychological and therefore offers more overall diagnostic of end of life care.
Caring Environment In End-of-Life
One of the main advantages of home hospice care is the availability of individual patient’s focused care. While in hospital or nursing home, palliative care may be routing, home hospice care provides an individualized plan for every patient.
It involves the coordination of the care team that is generally made up of the nurses, physicians, a social worker, and spiritual counselor to ensure that they agree with the patient as well as their relatives on the directives of treatment to be provided to the patient.
Staying in a familiar environment can positively affect a patient’s comfort thus the need to allow a patient to be admitted in their preferred hospital. Staying in one’s own home with familiar objects and memories is actually reassuring compared to treatment centers that seem much institutionalized.
Feeling Alright, Responding To Symptoms And Pain Relief
One of the main principles of hospice is pain and other symptom control. It is for this reason the hospice team has specialized in giving medication and other therapies that will help in reducing the pains of the patient, manage the symptoms and enhance the level of comfort of the patient.
In this way, patients are as comfortable as they can be, and can spend the rest of their time with their families in the comfort that pain is not a major issue they have to face.
In line with this, another one of the ten hospice teams services is the behavioral health services. The volunteers also provide support to both the patient as well as the family, providing psycho-social support to both, to cope with the numerous issues that surround the process of the terminal phase.
This whole spectrum of support is meant to reduce the emotional toll, so that the patients and their companions can enjoy the remaining time with one another.
Dignity at End of Life
Hospice care at home can be traced from the basics of identifying with the patient and maintaining his/her dignity. This care approach recognizes the patient’s autonomy and preference and endeavors to respect them significantly. Independence is also evident in the kind of decisions patients make; pain control, treatment preferences, including who they would like to be with at their last moments.
In addition, the culturally as well as spiritually sensitive care provided by hospice care at home might not always be possible at a hospital. These practices enhance the value of the patient’s belief and cultural practices hence promoting an appreciable and more befitting end-of-life care.
