Terminally-ill patients are admitted to hospice care when they are given a prognosis of 6 months or less to live from the life-limiting illness they are afflicted with. The hospice care services provided to a terminally-ill patient will depend on the patient’s conditions and stage of care needed. The hospice interdisciplinary team will develop a care plan for the patient that may involve provision of any or a combination of the following service:

Nursing care is one of the services provided under hospice care. The registered nurses who are members of the interdisciplinary team will monitor the patient’s medication and symptoms. They will also help inform and educate the patient and his family on how to provide care for the dying patient. The registered nurses are the link between the patient, the family and the physician. Aside from nursing service, hospice care also includes social services. Social workers help counsel the patient’s family members and the patient and serves as the community advocate in order to make sure that they have access to the resources needed by the patient. If there are nursing services included in the hospice care program, physician services are also included. The patient’s doctor works with the hospice team in determining the level of comfort and care required by the patient.

Hospice care also allows the patient to have access to spiritual support and counseling. Members of the hospice team include clergy and religious workers who can provide spiritual support anytime. The religious volunteers can help the patient understand and accept death, facing it with full acceptance and performing religious ceremony or ritual which is important to the patient before death. The religious volunteers can also help the patient and the family in learning to say their goodbyes without that much pain and agony. And since caring for a terminally-ill patient is not that easy and simple, home health aides are also available to provide personal care to the patient such as shaving, bathing, nail and hair care, etc. Light chores such as meal preparation and housekeeping may also be provided by home health aides.

There are also trained volunteers providing their service to Louisiana hospice care patients. The backbone of hospice is the compassionate support of these caring volunteers. They can be called anytime of the day if the family members need help in some of the daily tasks such as babysitting, carpooling or shopping for the patient’s supplies. Physical or occupational therapists are also available to lend a hand in helping the patient develop new ways to do tasks which may have been difficult to do because of the illness – dressing, brushing teeth, walking or eating. There are also volunteers in the hospice team that can provide respite care to the family member acting as the primary caregiver or whoever is taking care of the dying patient. The primary caregiver is given a “respite” or break from taking care of the patient.

Most of the terminally -ill patients who are cared for at home may require to be admitted to a hospital or a hospice care facility. Where the dying process may necessitate medical intervention, inpatient care service takes café of that, say an IV drip with pain medication or a 24/7 monitoring. In such cases, the patient may have to be admitted to hospice care facility in order to receive the required round-the-clock hospice care. At the same time that the patient is being made comfortable given the medical circumstances and conditions, the patient’s family members are also provided with support and counseling to help cope with the grieving process. Upon the patient’s death, the hospice team will continue to keep in touch with the family for a year to make sure that they are able to cope with their loss.