Nursing - Life Care Shelter - Term Paper Example

Hospice Care Hospice Care Hospice care is the psychological and spiritual care extended towards old people who approaches their end of life by the healthcare professionals. The major objective of providing hospice care is to help the people to end their life with peace and comfort. The caregiver will control the parameters as much which disturbs the patient as much as possible during his/her end of life. Hospice care is provided not only to the patient, but even for the family members of the aging person. The agonies of the aging person may cause panic to the family members also. Hospice care thus addresses the needs of both the patient and the family members. The idea of hospice care is not a new one. Some people believe that even in the 11 th century, such practices were there. The concepts of hospice care undergone several changes and according to modern concepts, the core of hospice care is the palliative care given to the patients with incurable illness. Hospice care is provided at home, hospitals and nursing homes. This paper evaluates the nursing aspects of hospice care, its aspects regarding death and dying etc. Hospice and its aspects regarding death and dying Apart from physical problems, emotional problems are also increasing day by day and the conditions of the dying people are worsening. Some people believe that before dying people should face some pain and agony as a punishment for the wrong things they committed during their earthly life. In their opinion, people will get salvation only if they were able to accept the punishments for their evil acts. Hospice rejects all such beliefs and argues that there is no point in such beliefs and if possible the life of the dying people should be made as comfortable as possible. “If each of us would make a start by contemplating the possibility of our own personal death, we may affect many things, most important of all the welfare of our patients, our families, and finally perhaps our nations” (End of Life Care Today, 2010)  Hospice principles are aimed to prepare a person capable of accepting death naturally. According to hospice principles, it is the right of a person to accept death with easiness. But in most of cases, dying persons may face severe physical and mental problems. When the body becomes weak, lots of disease can affect a person. These diseases can cause severe pain, agony and discomfort to the dying person. Hospice care provides enough attention to such people and helps such dying patients to get rid of their worries and pains as much as possible. Apart from physical discomforts, spiritual or mental problems can also create problems to the dying people. Nobody knows what will happen after death and the dying persons always may have lot of worries and concerns about their after death life. Religions taught that a person may have another life after his death which depends on the activities of the person in the earthly life. According to religious beliefs, those who stayed away from sins may get a heavenly life whereas those who engaged in evil activities may get hell at the end of their earthly life. But nobody has got absolute surety about what they are going to get after their death; hell or heaven. The concerns about hell or heaven will agitate the dying persons drastically. Hospice tries to eliminate these concerns as much as possibly by giving counseling to the dying people. The goal of freestanding hospices and even hospital-based programs is the creation and maintenance of warm, comfortable, home-like environments. Rather than the direct overhead lights found in hospitals, these hospices use floor and table lamps along with natural light to convey a sense of brightness and uplift. Some hospices offer music or art programs and fill patient rooms with original artwork and fresh flowers (Hospices, 2010) Nursing aspects of providing hospice care The major nursing aspects of providing hospice care are; it helps the dying patients to accept death as the natural conclusion of life; delivery of care by a highly trained, interdisciplinary team of health professionals who communicate among themselves regularly; an emphasis on effective pain management and comprehensive home care services; counseling for the patient and bereavement counseling for the family after the patients death; ongoing research and education as essential features of hospice programs (Hospices, 2010). One of the major duties of nurses is the protection of the dignity of those in their care. They should confront the patients in all possible means and ensure the well being of the patients as much as possible. Even if a patient dies, the nurses should ensure that he/she accepted his/her death gracefully. Most probably the periods just before dying might be managed by the healthcare professionals and friends and elatives may not have much role in such situations. Nurses should communicate properly with the dying patients in order to ensure that the dying patient accepted his fate naturally. Marshall (2001) has mentioned that dying patients often share extremely personal information and final confessions to the nurses and the patients must feel that the information they entrust to nurses is kept confidential in order for them to work through issues such as guilt and forgiveness (Marshall, 2001). Some nurses have the illusion that good nursing is all about exercising a specific set of skills. But such things are only some parts of their profession. In fact nurses are the ones who interact mostly with the dying persons and they are the ones who witness the problems, pains and agonies of the dying patients. Some of the dying patients may entrust the nurses more than anybody else and may confess certain things to them. The nurses should be able to manage all these situations well. The patients may reveal darker and brighter sides of their early life to the nurses and the nurses should be able to deal both the situations well. Methods of interacting with dying persons or their family Dying persons may have low morale and they might be suffering from physical and mental agonies. Nurses should encourage them to lift their morale as much as possible by providing them stories of brave personalities who accepted the death with a brave heart. The stories of surprising recoveries can also be used extensively to lift the self esteem of the dying persons. For example, the story of Mother Teresa or the story of Father Damien might be inspirational to the dying patients. Gentle massage and practicing relaxation techniques like Yoga can reduce the agonies of the dying patients very much. Nurses can advice the patients to practice Yoga to get rid of their mental stress. Giving company to the dying patient in all possible manners is the best way of assisting dying persons to get rid of their agony. The dying person should be allowed to express his concerns and fears about dying such as leaving his family or friends. Such emotional outbursts may often automatically soothe the feelings of the dying person. The nurse can ask the patient about his/her ultimate needs and can make arrangements to fulfill such needs if possible. Conclusions Hospice care is all about ensuring the natural death of a person. It focuses more on the giving proper medical care to the dying patient and his family members. It assists the dying patient physically, mentally, socially and spiritually to get rid of his fears, concerns, worries and pains. References 1. End of Life Care Today. (2010). Retrieved from http://www.dyingconsciously.org/hospice.html 2. Hospices. (2010). Encyclopedia of Surgery. Retrieved from http://www.surgeryencyclopedia.com/Fi-La/Hospices.html 3. Marshall, Penny L. (2001). End of life care: Ethical issues. BNET:CBS Interactive Business Network. Retrieved from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3940/is_200108/ai_n8955420/pg_2/ Read More