Care for Patients and Families
The hospice program of care for terminally ill patients and their families is essential end-of-life palliative care. Palliative care focuses on comfort, not cure. It aims to give the patient the highest possible quality of life instead of trying to preserve and prolong life at any cost. Palliative care focuses on the whole person - mind, body, and spirit. It involves vigorous efforts to relieve physical symptoms - such as pain, nausea, vomiting, fatigue, and shortness of breath. it seeks to alleviate psychosocial distress such as depression and anxiety. It also includes social and spiritual support to help patients and families adapt to the anticipated decline associated with advanced, progressive, and incurable diseases.
The goal of palliative care is to give patients choices and as much control as possible over what happens to them during this time in their lives. It strives to ensure that their treatments are congruent with their wishes and that they are treated with dignity and respect. Palliative care aims to help patients and their families to live life to the fullest up to the last minute.
Hospice care is provided by an Interdisciplinary Team (IDT) of professionals. The IDT provides comprehensive medical, nursing, and personal care related to the patient's terminal disease as well as emotional, social, and spiritual support for the patient and his/her family. The patient's primary care physician retains overall direction of the patients care.
Patients may choose to retain their primary physician or elect to have the hospice medical director assume supervision of care. Sometimes primary physicians feel more comfortable with turning care over to the hospice medical director. Other times they may wish to remain involved and stay on as primary physician. The hospice team is happy with either decision and comfortable working with all physicians.
