Choosing hospice care is not an easy decision to make. People subconsciously think that hospice is a red flag indicating that your loved one is in a severe condition with no hope to recover. However, by choosing hospice care, you ensure that your loved one gets his/her quality of life improved.
Hospice Care for Terminally Ill Patients
Hospice provides comfort, dignity, and support not only to the patient who has a terminal illness and less than 6 months of life but also to the caregiver. Hospice care focuses on emotional, physical, and spiritual support from a team of experts, including a social worker, spiritual support counselor, nurse practitioner, board-certified physician, etc.. Hospice services can be provided at home, nursing home, and inpatient hospice facility.
4 levels of Hospice Care
MD Choice Hospice notes 4 levels, such as routine home care, continuous home care, general inpatient care, and respite care. Let’s discuss each of the levels.
- Routine Home Care is the basic level of hospice, provided at your home, assisted living, or nursing home. The hospice personnel is responsible for providing comfort for the patients and caregivers, and the case allows them to do so at home.
- During Continuous Home Care hospice nurse stays at your home for an extended period in case the patient experiences unrelieved pain and other severe symptoms. If the case gets more serious, hospice physicians may decide to level up the care.
- General Inpatient Care is the next level to deal with more severe cases. This level is important given that patients’ symptoms may become so severe that it would be hard to contain the situation at home. The patient is transferred to an inpatient facility until the situation gets back in control.
- Respite Care is more like for caregivers. This occasional level offers a short-term break for the caregivers facing challenges of the advanced level illness of their loved ones.
How to Determine Which Level Patient Needs
You can’t all alone determine which level of hospice care the patient needs. It can be done only after a general understanding of patients’ conditions. The hospice specialist, physician, or nurse will visit the patient and do a general assessment based on symptoms and emotional stress level. After the assessment, the right level will be chosen for the care to effectively manage the hospice patient’s illness and increase his/her quality of life.
If you need to choose hospice care, MD Choice Hospice Care is here to assist you.
Feel free to contact us. Take care of you and your relatives.