Hospice A Nurses Role - Essay Example

Hospice care originated in England in 1973 and was filtered in to the United States through the knowledge of an over whelming need for services that could provide more extensive, and compassionate nursing care for terminal patients (The Hastings Report 2003). According to The Hastings Report (2003), hospice care was originally designed to bring more comforting and specialized regimens to patients who were diagnosed with aggressive forms of cancer. However, through time, the program transformed and adapted to the many changes in the medical care system.

Its berth widened and recognized the fact that there were patients suffering from other terminal illnesses that could benefit from the hospice care program as well. Hospice services actually have an extensive range and the program includes specialties in professional nursing care, personal assistance with activities of daily living (ADL's), various forms of rehabilitation therapy, dietary counseling, psychological and spiritual counseling for both patient and family, volunteer services, respite care, provision of medical drugs and devices necessary for palliative care, and family bereavement services following the patients death (The Hastings Report 2003). . As was briefly mentioned, this is a program that can be found in many areas of the medical world.

One of the more vast areas where hospice care is utilized the most is in elderly care facilities, and communities. Age brings disease and hospice care nurses are trained to meet a large variety of the needs of patients who suffer with a myriad of deteriorative illnesses, such as can be found in the elderly community (Trail-Ross 1998). There are quantifiable factors found that point to a stronger need for hospice care in the elderly population, as well as other medical facilities that are outside of a direct hospital environment.

One of the key issues that are evaluated when attempting to determine a need for hospice care focuses on how well a person can function on their own. Hospice care nurses carefully asses the functional states of every potential patient they might acquire (Trail-Ross 1998). ADL's are essential in understanding if the needs of a specific patient are going to be appropriately met with hospice care. The World Health Organization draws their own conclusions as to what extent hospice care might be needed, but it is the hospice care nurses themselves who know the exact percentile of need since they have direct contact with the patients and are aware of where their patients ADL levels are at (Trail-Ross 1998).

Another area that is analyzed is the ability a patient has with their IADL's, which are more complex than basic ADL's. Within this realm, a hospice nurse might find he or she is of more benefit to the patient by offering help with tasks such as cooking, shopping, cleaning house, and even managing the patients'