How Does Hospice Assist With End-Of-Life Decision-Making?
How Your Hospice Team Provides Decision-Making Support
During a loved one’s end-of-life chapter, decision-making can be a major obstacle for hospice patients and their families. In hospice care, your hospice team and healthcare professionals will provide professional assistance, helping you make the best choices for your loved one. Staff will assist you with creating a care plan, following your loved one’s wishes, and tough decision-making. Hospice workers can provide feedback and health information to your loved one’s doctor, meaning their doctor will have first-hand accounts of the health of the patient. Healthcare professionals offer resources that assist them through each part of the process, including counseling, social workers, legal guidance, and more. Ensuring that patients have their wishes respected means facing some emotional questions. Hospice staff and doctors can offer their insight and experience while discussing topics like ventilation, resuscitation, and other forms of life support care. Patients and their families should never hesitate to ask their healthcare providers questions, and should take advantage of any resources available to them. Support services are available to offer decision-making assistance during hospice care. If you have questions about hospice care and support services, contact Bayou City Hospice today.
End of Life Decisions and Care Plans
Honoring the patient’s wishes is one of the key elements to creating an end-of-life plan. A care plan will create a comprehensive summary of the patient’s needs and condition. All patients should have a personalized care plan that respects their health, comfort, and wishes. A care plan will include things like funeral arrangements and wishes, a living will, power of attorney, medications the patients are taking, health care providers, health conditions, and emergency contacts. Care plans allow patients and their families to handle tough decision-making early on during hospice care. Through consulting with their doctors and healthcare staff, these decisions can be finalized so families are not faced with difficult life decisions while under emotional pressure or time constraints. You will want to discuss different topics like the types of care the patient wants to receive, how involved family caregivers will be, how their conditions will be monitored, how payment for the care will work, and whether or not the patient should be at home during certain parts of their end-of-life journey. Facing these decisions early can also give you time to discuss cultural and religious wishes, legal structures, and more. If patient wishes don’t align with some family members, having a care plan ahead of time can ensure the patient’s wishes are respected.
Decision-Making on Behalf of the Patient
In circumstances where patients have not created full advanced care plans, others may be required to make decisions on behalf of their loved ones. There are two strategies that we encourage families to use, known as Substitute Judgement and Best Interests. Substitute judgment calls for the family member to imagine themself in the patient’s situation and make decisions as they believe the patient would. Best Interests is an approach that calls for you to act as a representative for your loved one to make decisions in their best interest. Insight and guidance from your hospice team and doctors may be included when making these decisions.
Hospice Support Services
There are a variety of support services available to those in hospice care. Bayou City Hospice offers home visits to ensure patients are regularly checked on and their quality of care is consistent. This is crucial for managing symptoms, pain, and medications. Hospice care supports patients in the unique ways they require help. This can include daily activities, emotional support, symptom management, increasing comfort, physical therapies, and even access to spiritual counseling. If you or a loved one requires hospice care, don’t hesitate to reach out to Bayou City Hospice to get information on our services!
Bereavement Services for the Family of Hospice Patients
Bereavement services often deal with providing support to family members after a loved one has passed. Bereavement support can come in many forms, including resources regarding financial and legal tasks. With access to grief counseling, youth counseling, support groups, remembrance activities, and more, family members have an additional layer of support.
Bereavement doesn’t just start after a family member has passed. Many find counseling services to be helpful while their loved one is in hospice care. Grief often begins before the passing of a loved one, and working through it can help ease your eventual loss. Bereavement services are available when needed and provide a safe place to discuss the hardships of loss.
Deciding if Hospice Care is the Right Choice
Oftentimes, patients and their families will be approached by their doctor or healthcare provider to initiate the conversation about hospice. Determining a patient’s hospice care eligibility typically starts when treatment for their condition is no longer viable and it is time for end-of-life preparations. As a patient’s health declines, and they have trouble with daily activities, managing symptoms, or require professional care regularly, hospice becomes the most logical course. Typically, patients enter hospice care when their life expectancy is six months or less.
Rarely can families provide the level of care that a patient requires during end-of-life care. Even full-time family caregivers likely will not have the resources necessary to provide the support their loved one needs.
Hospice care offers assistance in the form of a full team of healthcare professionals. From nurses to social workers, a hospice team is available to provide support in hospitals, long-term care facilities, or wherever the patient lives. The team of nurses and other professionals will help manage pain and create as much comfort as possible. During hospice care, patients will have an increased quality of life. This professional support allows the families of patients to be more flexible with their time, allowing them to utilize the remaining time to create positive experiences and memories.
Learn More About Hospice Care and End of Life Decision-Making
A major part of hospice care is allowing the families and personal caregivers more time and energy. Hospice care handles some of the more taxing activities of caring for a loved one, creating the opportunity for families to spend quality time together. Patients typically will have a six-month or less life expectancy during hospice, so by having professional support, both the patients and their families will have a more enriching time together. Through daily assistance, pain management, symptom control, medical equipment, counseling, social services, and respite care, hospice resources greatly increase the quality of life for everyone involved.
The support of the hospice team goes beyond just daily care and extends into the sometimes tough decision-making that families must go through. We provide resources and support to patients and families during these conversations. Bayou City Hospice offers helpful and relevant information, opens up discussions, offers mediation and legal resources, and more.
Contact Our Hospice Staff Today!
If you have additional questions or need further clarification about Hospice Care and end-of-life decision-making, please contact Bayou City Hospice today. We will gladly answer any questions you have and point you towards additional resources to help you make the most informed decision about hospice care.