Finding the right hospice care provider for your loved one.

As you start looking for hospice care for a loved one, you’ll encounter numerous providers stating that they offer “compassionate,” “supportive,” or “high quality” care. These are words that are significant, but families should also know what to expect more than words of compassion.

Deciding on a hospice provider is among the most individual choices that a family can make. The right hospice staff should support your loved one’s comfort, honor their desires, assist the family and guide your loved one through this challenging time.

In this article, we will discuss the most important hospice quality measures and tips for comparing hospice care providers.

Start With Reputation and Experience of the Family

One place to began looking for hospice care near you is with an online review. Feedback can provide information on family experiences of communication, responsiveness, emotional support and care.

But the review shouldn’t be the sole consideration. Hospice care is uniquely personal and every family’s story is unique. A good hospice agency should be able to articulate what they do when they assess patients’ needs, what they do when they experience symptoms, what they do with families and how they can help with comfort, throughout the hospice process.

When you contact a hospice agency, you may want to ask:

What is the fastest time for care to start?
How many times will the nurse come?
When the phone is out of office hours, who do we contact?
What is done to control pain and symptoms?
What are the family’s options for support?
How is the patient’s wishes respected by the care team?

Hospice Quality Measures is a resource for you to help understand how to find the best hospice.

Hospice services will be expected to evaluate key aspects of patients’ comfort, safety, and preferences. The assessments assist the care team in developing a care plan that aligns with the patient’s goals and needs.

One of the major aspects to work on are:

Treatment preferences and goals of care

The first step in hospice care is to know what the patient wants.

Hospice is more than just medical care. It’s about respecting what is most important to the patient and family. These can encompass choices regarding hospitalization, emergency care, comfort-based care, spiritual needs and personal wishes for end-of-life care.

As the disease progresses, a strong hospice team should discuss what the patient wants and doesn’t want. These conversations ensure that care is personalized, respectful and in line with the patients’ values.

Beliefs, Values, Spiritual Support

Emotional and spiritual care may play a crucial role in hospice care. The patient and family may hold religious, cultural, emotional or personal beliefs that need to be respected along the course of treatment.

These conversations should be made room for in hospice care. The care team should be empathetic and respectful when a patient requests spiritual counseling, emotional support, prayer, quiet reflection or any other form of support.

At Canestro Care Hospice our aim is to care for the whole person, rather than the medical condition.

Pain Screening

One of the key elements of hospice care is pain management. At the start of hospice, the hospice care team should work very hard to determine if the patient is having pain and the intensity of the pain.

An appropriate pain assessment allows the nurse to gain some understanding of how comfortable the patient is and to start devising a plan of care that will promote comfort. If you have pain it should never be ignored, glossed over or treated as if the same treatment would be suitable for everyone.

Each patient is unique, and pain management should be approached with sensitivity, communication and respect for the patient’s preferences.

Comprehensive Pain Assessment

If pain is noted the nurse of the hospice should conduct a more thorough assessment. This can involve comprehension such as:

The location of the pain:
How many times it occurs.
How long it lasts
What it feels like
What is good about it? What is bad about it?
The impact it has on sleep, movement, mood and life quality.Its impact on sleep, movement, mood, and life quality.

This information is useful to the hospice team to develop a comfort-focused hospice care plan. Medication, re-positioning, relaxation, caregiver education and other comfort measures may be part of pain management.

What is important is not only to alleviate pain, but to keep the patient as restful, comfortable and dignified as possible.

Shortness of Breath Screening : Detecting shortness of breath.

Breathlessness, or dyspnea, is a frequent problem in hospice patients. Can be very frightening to both patient and family.

Breathing comfort should be evaluated and symptoms of respiratory distress should be noted by the hospice nurse. If the patient is short of breath, then the care team should react promptly and have a plan in place to make the patient feel better.

This can involve medication, oxygen if appropriate, positioning, breathing, calming support, or any other type of comfort.

Treatments are provided for shortness of breath.

If a patient has difficulty breathing, the hospice team should work with the physician, patient and family to develop a treatment plan.

Appropriate plan will vary based on patient condition and preference. Medication or oxygen support may be indicated for some patients, and for others, non-medication comfort measures like repositioning, airflow, relaxation or coaching from a caregiver may be sufficient.

The key element is that the patient’s comfort and desires are always kept in focus.

Medication Support and Bowel Regimen

Opioids can sometimes be prescribed in hospice to relieve pain or to help ease breathing. If opioids are included in the care plan, the hospice team must also take into account possible side effects.

Constipation is a common side effect of opioid drugs. Constipation can cause pain and discomfort if not treated. Hence it is sometimes necessary to use a bowel regimen if opioid medications are used.

A caring hospice team should clearly communicate the purpose of the medications, monitor the patient’s reaction to these, and discuss comfort, side effects, and changes in condition to the family members.

The Family’s Voice Matters

Hospice care for the patient is not the only type of hospice care. It also provides aid to the family.

Families should be listened to, informed and supported. Good hospice care will be clear, address questions, educate, and guide the caregiver as to what to expect.

Look for how the team at the hospice provider communicates on the initial phone call when you are selecting a hospice provider. Are they patient? Are they clear? Do they describe the process? Are they there for you?

The first interactions can give you a lot of information about the care experience.

Choosing Hospice Care Near You

When looking for hospice care, make sure to ask questions and learn about each hospice care provider’s approach. It’s important that the right hospice team can offer support that’s based on comfort, take the patient’s wishes into account and ease the family’s sense of isolation during a challenging period.

Our purpose at Canestro Care Hospice is to offer compassionate hospice care which offers comfort, dignity and peace to the patient and family.

You can ask any questions about hospice care or just need help understanding what to do next, we are here for you.

Call to Action

If your loved one may need hospice care, or if you are a healthcare provider looking to refer a patient, Canestro Care Hospice is here to help. You can submit a hospice referral online or call us 24/7 at (844) 978-2100 to speak with our team.

Our team is available to answer questions, explain the hospice process, and help families understand the next steps with compassion and care.