Hospice Does Not Tell You
A majority don’t know about the truth of specifically “What hospice care does not tell you”. Definitely, it’s not a typical treatment you guys get from a hospital, instead, be more focused on the patient’s comfort. A hospice care is all about patient relief, comfort, and mental health not lots of pharmaceutical medicine and techniques involved here.
In this article, I am just about shedding light on “what hospice care is and things hospice care does not usually tell you. So there is lots of speculation around this service You‘ll also get a guide on Hospice care vs Palliative care.
Understanding Hospice Care Basics
As said earlier, hospice care is the type of care we usually provide patients at home to make them physically, mentally, and spiritually comfortable. This care be done through various activities like performing their activities in front of them, cooking their favorite yet healthy food, and talking to them about their interests. It is like giving them inner happiness making their soul truly happy and comfortable. Have a look at the basics:
- Specialized care for patients with terminal illness
- Focused on the comfort of patient, not a curative treatment
- Patient will be treated spiritually, emotionally, physiologically
- Can be provided at home as well as designed centers
Which Patients Need Hospice Care?
Hospice care is provided to those patients who are terminally ill. It is also called the end stage of a patient when the patient can’t be cured by other treatments. Like if there is a cancer patient who can’t recover from all the treatments be it chemotherapy, surgery, or any other. Then the last treatment or stage that can we provide is hospice care and that person is called terminally ill.
Usually, terminally ill persons are given around a six-month time span of life and are treated by hospice care at specialized hospice care centers or institutions. There is no guarantee or solid note that those patients specifically live 6 months maybe they‘ll recover or live for more than a year.
Any of the patients is given to hospice care through mutual discussion and reason with the patient’s families and doctor. Here are the reasons a patient is given to a have hospice care:
- Patients who have a terminal diagnosis
- Are no longer seeking curative treatment
- Have severe symptoms
- Exhausted from all treatment
- Need spiritual and emotional support
Misconceptions and Myths About Hospice Care
Certainly, there is lots of misconception and myths about hospice care, which hospice care also doesn’t tell you. Here in this paragraph, you‘ll get the breakdown of all those toxic misconceptions about hospice care.
- Hospice care is only for the last days
Yeah, it’s true that hospice care in most of the scenarios provided or given in the last stages but it’s not only for end times or we last stage. This a great myth from a period around this treatment but the reality is totally opposite. Hospice care prognosis to the individual who has a lifetime of more than 6 months.
- Hospice care speeds up death
If you guys laughed at this I can’t be surprised or mind ..lol. Some people and websites also state that the treatment of hospice care speeds up the dying process. All these things happen when hospice does not tell you. But the truth is this treatment indeed increases your lifetime and cures a patient’s disease.
- Choosing Hospice means giving up
This is another misconception or speculation around this that going for hospice care means giving up. But the reality is straight contrasting to this opting out of hospice care means that you shift focus from curative treatment to improving quality of life. Indeed there are multiple proven cases exist which are cured by hospice care.
- Hospice is only for cancer patients
This is also a rumor or myth that hospice is only for cancer patients but this is false at all. Hospice care is given to a wide range of patients with different diseases. Patients with life-limiting diseases like heart patients, respiratory disorders, and neurodegenerative diseases.
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Hospice for elders only
The reason behind this misconception is, that most old people aren’t able to recover from severe diseases and hospice does not tell you this. That is the reason they most probably give to hospice care at home or any specialized institution and people think this is only for elders.
Things a Hospice Does Not Tell You
Hope you guys know till there that the motive behind hospice care is to provide end-of-life comfort, compassion, and spiritual and physical support to terminally ill people. A patient who has a few weeks sometimes months or years left in this world.
But here in this part of the article I’m going to tell you some important truths that a hospice does not tell you at all in any case.
1. Life expectancy
We all have the idea that people who are given to hospice most probably have a 6-month life as expected. But it’s very hard to predict sometimes they live for more time, With regards to this it’s quite difficult to expect or estimate life expectancy in a hospice. That’s the reason hospice does not tell you.
2. Improvement rate or potential
As the hospice isn’t a curative treatment it’s focused on improving quality of life. In case those would be the last days of the patient the efforts made to make them best. Another fact is that here the symptoms and behavior would be treated not the particular disease, so here is quite hard to predict improvement potential.
3. Emotional Impact
It is true that in hospice care a patient is filled with emotions as he is treated with them, but no one can describe or measure the impact of emotions on the patient. It can be challenging for the patient as well family.
4. Family caregiver strain
Hospice care often involves significant participation from family caregivers. The strain and toll that caregiving can take on family members might not always be thoroughly discussed and a hospice does not tell you.
5. Financial Consideration
A hospice also does not tell you about the finances or give you any idea how much to consider, in case you doing at a center.
Things to Look at Before Choosing a Hospice
Indeed this is one of the most important steps if any of you battling with an incurable disease or are asked to give hospice. Then there are the most important things before being emotionally jumping straight to any hospice center. Here are the things to look before:
- Accreditation and licensing of hospice
- Experience and reputation
- Staff expertise
- Service Offered
- Pain and Symptom management
- Continuity of care
- Payment procedure and method
- Location.
Hospice Care Vs Palliative Care: Difference
There is another thing that you can’t get any briefing from a hospice nor a hospice would seem interesting telling you which is called “Palliative care”. These are specialized types of medical care designed for the patient you‘ll get a complete breakdown between both as follows.
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Conclusion
Here in this article, we discussed truths behind a hospice that they does not tell you and shed light on some misconceptions and myths about this service. No doubt there is a lot that definitely causes loss to the majority. Break down the must-haves of a hospice and the difference between hospice vs palliative.