Your Family Can Choose Who Provides Care
A discussion may arise about hospice when your loved one is in the hospital. If your family, loved one, and physician determine that hospice is the next best step, you may be given information about a hospice provider.
Yet when you receive this information, it can feel as though the choice has already been made.
The hospital may have its own hospice program or a provider it refers families to regularly. You can consider that option, ask for other names, or request an organization you already trust. You have a choice. Your family and loved one get to decide who will enter your loved one’s home and guide your family through this difficult time.
Begin With the Kind of Hospice Care Your Loved One Wants
Start with a simple question: Where does your loved one want to spend this time?
Many people want to remain at home, close to familiar rooms, family members, pets, and daily routines. With hospice care at home, the hospice team comes to the patient. Nurses help manage pain and other symptoms. Hospice aides assist with personal care, while chaplains support the emotional and spiritual needs of the patient and family.
After days or weeks in medical settings, coming home can feel like getting part of your life back. Family can visit without watching the clock, and familiar surroundings may bring comfort.
Is Hospice in the Hospital an Option?
A hospital may operate a hospice program, have a dedicated hospice unit, or refer patients elsewhere. A hospital can also provide short-term general inpatient hospice care when symptoms cannot be managed in the patient’s usual home. Phoenix helps arrange this care when a patient qualifies, with the goal of controlling symptoms before the patient returns to their previous setting.
Respite care is another short-term option that gives a family caregiver time to rest. Ask each provider where respite takes place, how it is arranged, and what circumstances qualify. A conversation about hospice in the hospital setting should leave you with a clear picture of which setting is being discussed and whether the stay is temporary.
Ask Who Will Be Visiting Your Loved One’s Home
Ask who makes scheduled visits and how the team communicates with each other and with your family. Find out whether you’ll see familiar nurses and aides. You’ll also want to know who answers the phone overnight, what happens when symptoms change quickly, and how soon a nurse can respond.
Hospice care depends on relationships. A nurse who knows how your loved one usually looks, speaks, and responds to medications may notice a change sooner. Family members can speak more openly with people they’ve gotten to know. Working with the same people also saves you from repeating the same difficult story during every call.
Pain and symptom management are central to hospice, but families often need much more. Strong hospice care at home may include help from medical social workers, a chaplain, or even community volunteers. These services can make the home feel calmer and help family members spend more time as a spouse, child, sibling, or friend.
Know the Difference Between Palliative Care and Hospice
The terms palliative care and hospice are often mixed together. Hospice is for a person with a life-limiting illness who has chosen comfort-focused care in place of treatment intended to cure that illness. Palliative care can help with symptoms and stress during a serious illness while the person is still receiving treatment. However, the term palliative care may be used to describe the pain management and symptom-control care your loved one will receive during hospice.
Our guide to palliative care vs. hospice care goes into greater detail on the distinction and can help your family prepare questions for your physician or hospice provider.
Choose the Team That Meets Your Loved One’s Needs
You don’t have to accept the first referral offered. Talk with the hospital’s recommended hospice team and any other providers you’ve researched. Notice who listens, gives direct answers, and treats your concerns with patience.
At Phoenix Home Care & Hospice, we believe hospice gives people the power to choose how they live. We bring physical, emotional, and spiritual support to patients and families, with on-call nursing available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. When symptoms require short-term general inpatient care, we help determine eligibility and coordinate that care.
If your family is considering hospice, find your nearest Phoenix location or request a conversation with our hospice team. We’ll explain the benefits, answer your questions, and help you decide whether Phoenix hospice care at home feels right for you.
