Understanding Palliative Care
A palliative care consultation team is a multidisciplinary team that works with the patient, family, and the patient's other doctors to provide medical, social, emotional, and practical support. The team is made of palliative care specialist doctors and nurses, and includes others such as social workers, nutritionists, and chaplains.
Palliative care can be provided in hospitals, nursing homes, outpatient palliative care clinics and certain other specialized clinics, or at home.
While some receive palliative care at an inpatient hospice or residential nursing home, it is becoming an increasingly popular choice to receive care at home. Many individuals want to stay in an environment where they feel most comfortable; it’s often referred to as hospice care at home.
Palliative care at home can involve:
· Personal care and assisted living such as assistance with bathing, dressing and toileting
· Continence care, whether it is changing continence pads or managing a stoma or catheter
· Medication support including prompts or administering medication, even the more complex prescriptions
· Support with pain management
· Help moving around the home, whether it is gentle support or hoisted transfers
· Housekeeping duties such as vacuuming, dusting, changing beds or doing the laundry
· Preparing meals to your tastes, and washing up afterwards
· Caring for your pet including feeding and walking
· Running errands to collect prescriptions or food shopping
· Companionship and supporting your independent living at home
Differences between palliative care and hospice care
The main difference between palliative and hospice care is when each type of care is offered.
For people with a serious and potentially life threatening condition, palliative care is available at any time, regardless of the stage of the illness. It doesn’t depend on your prognosis or life expectancy.
In contrast, hospice care is only available at the end of life, when an illness is no longer responding to treatment. At this time, the individual may decide to stop treatment and begin hospice care, also known as end-of-life care.
Like palliative care, hospice is focused on a person’s overall comfort, including their emotional, physical, and spiritual well-being. In fact, hospice is considered a form of palliative care. However, receiving palliative care doesn’t necessarily mean you’re in hospice.
To qualify for hospice care, a doctor has to estimate that your life expectancy is 6 months or less. This can be incredibly difficult to determine.
Hospice care doesn’t always signal the end of life. It’s possible to receive hospice care and then resume curative or life-prolonging treatments.
The Service Palliative Caregiver Support In The Home
Many palliative care agencies do offer in-home services. In this scenario, members of the palliative care team make periodic visits – usually weekly – to the patient’s residence.
In-home palliative caregiver care will spare your loved one the stress and upheaval that inevitably accompanies a move to a nursing home or other long-term care facility. However, as their primary caregiver, you will continue to be responsible for meeting their daily care needs. Of course, this may be difficult if you work, live far away, or have other family responsibilities to consider.
Fortunately, there is a better way.
Our experienced and compassionate caregivers provide one-on-one assistance and non-medical support to chronically ill patients who wish to remain in the privacy and comfort of home:
· Meal planning and preparation.
· Ensuring medications are taken on-time.
· Routine, light housekeeping.
· Assistance with personal care, including bathing and toileting.
· Assistance with shopping.
· Escorts to doctors’ appointments or social engagements.
· Encouraging exercise, as directed by their health care provider.
· The opportunity to engage in fulfilling daily activities
In most circumstances, we can provide this assistance at every stage of disease progression through end of life, in coordination with your loved one’s palliative caregiving team and other medical providers, and for far less than the cost of assisted living.
And most importantly, you can rest easy knowing that your loved one’s caregivers have each undergone strict screening and hiring process, are fully credentialed as certified nursing assistants, home health aides, or personal care assistants, and provided with ongoing training.
We understand that families depend on our expertise to provide quality caregiver care and experiences.
Most importantly, palliative care nurses help patients and their families feel safe and comfortable.
Benefits of palliative care at home
One of the main benefits of receiving palliative care at home is that it allows somebody to spend their last months, weeks and days in the place where they feel most at ease and safe: their home. This places them in the company of someone they know and trust whilst receiving palliative care. As well as being reassuring for the person receiving care, knowing this can give peace of mind to families and close friends too. Because of this, palliative care and hospice care are often synonymous with each other.
Having care at home instead of a hospital or hospice means less disruption for everybody. Round-the-clock care means that any changes in condition will be noticed and responded to quickly.
You can also be reassured that the person providing care is assessed to the high standards and given specific palliative care training, enabling them to provide practical and emotional support to you all.
