Across the U.S., more than 5,500 hospice centers provide services for pain management, emotional support, and spiritual resources and therapies for patients and their families. If you’re considering hospice care for a loved one, you probably have many questions. Keep reading to learn how hospice care works.
How Hospice Works
Did you know? Hospice patients, who are admitted early, live an average of 29 days longer, in more comfort, and have a higher quality of life?
Hospice care is far more than mere treatment for people facing terminal illnesses. Hospice is a philosophy of care specializing in easing pain, discomfort, and distress that patients and their families deal with.
Hospice care teams coordinate ordering, delivering, and setting up all necessary medications, medical equipment, and supplies.
Hospice teams are complete with physicians, nurses, social workers, home health aides, and volunteers to ensure patients’ emotional and physical needs are met. Clergy members are also often included to help patients and their families navigate their spiritual needs.
Hospice care is intended to help patients live their final days as comfortably as possible. Most often, hospice care is provided for people with cancer, heart disease, and advanced dementia, although services are available for a wide range of conditions and illnesses.
Benefits of Early Admission
Although hospice is often associated with end-of-life care, it doesn’t have to be that way. In fact, hospice care helps people live comfortably for longer than they would have on their own. Research from Yale University even shows that 50% of all hospice patients are admitted too late to fully benefit from the care. For these reasons, it’s important to consider early admission to hospice to reap all of the benefits, including:
- Better pain and symptom control. The more time you give the staff to get to know your needs and condition, the more apt they will become at controlling your symptoms, and providing comfort.
- Access to medical supplies and equipment that can increase comfort and prolong life.
- Bereavement support for the whole family.
- Improved quality of life.
- Fewer hospital and ICU admissions.
- More days of life. Studies show that hospice patients live longer than those with similar diagnoses who don’t receive hospice care.
Contact us today to get the admissions process started!