The word hospice is becoming more prevalent in healthcare although very few truly understand what it means.
Hospice is a way for your loved one who is terminally ill to have care provided for them in their own home where the presence of family and likely surroundings can give them a feeling of being a person over a patient. Hospice is an idea that is growing in the United States as the best way to give treatment to those who are terminally ill, there is no way cure can occur and their condition will only degrade. In this situation, hospitals have the option the recommend the patient to hospice care. Hospice is still run by doctors; however, the patient can stay in their own home and receive any necessary treatment through nurses that visit the patients.
Hospice does not only help with the continued treatment for the patient, but also provides services like spiritual counseling, social workers, and bereavement which all aid not only the patient but also help their family who will be affected by the loss of their loved one. One of the problems with medicine in the past years was that patients who were terminally ill were often kept in the hospital where they were faced with a harsh and unfamiliar environment with limited visits from family and friends, and hospice care works to fix that.
Hospice also saves a lot of money for hospitals. Each day a bed is occupied can cost a hospital thousands of dollars because that bed could be going to someone who needs it more. Costs like this add up both for the patient and the hospital. Therefore, hospice provides an excellent alternative for both hospitals and patients. The hospitals free up their resources for more patients and the patients receive care in an environment comfortable to them.
Hospice care will become fundamental to bettering the care you receive at the end of your life.
