Every November, the National Association for Home Care & Hospice joins with its providers to celebrate National Home Care Month and National Hospice Month. This event honors caregiving heroes and the special relationships they maintain with their patients and the families that they help. Among the workers being honored for making a remarkable difference in the lives of their patients are health care administrators, nurses, clinicians, therapists, aides, homemakers, chore workers, and companions.
Maxim Healthcare Services is proud to recognize our dedicated and caring healthcare professionals during this special month.
Home Health Care and Hospice Care Defined
While home healthcare is generally regarded as the most viable solution for providing long-term care to this country’s growing elderly population, hospice provides comfort, compassion, and end-of-life support to patients and their families in the comfort of their home. Patients are usually referred to hospice care when they are in the last phase of an illness so that they may live as fully and as comfortably as possible. Hospice care can continue longer than six months if needed, but requires Physician certification.
How Home Care and Hospice Care Differ
What homecare includes. Homecare includes an extensive list of services to attend to multiple needs for both adults and children. It classically starts with a nurse assessing the patient’s physical and psychosocial needs, consulting with appropriate healthcare team members and family, initiating physician orders and evaluating patient response to treatment. The patient is then periodically reassessed by clinical management to gauge needed changes, if necessary, to the plan of care.
Additionally, homecare encompasses providing and monitoring for a safe, comfortable, and therapeutic environment for the patient; initiating and evaluating patient and/or family education to make sure everyone understands the plan of care; and documenting the patient’s response to nursing and other interventions.
Learn more about the types of homecare and companion services Maxim Healthcare Services provides.
What hospice care includes. Hospice recognizes dying as a natural part of the living process and focuses on maintaining the quality of remaining life, while also addressing the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of both the patient and the family. Hospice care includes the activities listed above for home care, as well as administering morphine or other medications for optimum patient pain management by a Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) or Registered Nurse (RN); coordinating patient care by utilizing critical thinking and performance ability; and being accountable to the family in managing patient care.
Want To Know More?
Hospice and homecare nurses are truly heroes because of their daily outpouring of compassionate care to patients and families during their most difficult times, including the final stages of life.
If you or one of your loved ones should be in need of homecare or hospice care, contact your local Maxim Healthcare Services office for more information. Please note that hospice care is only offered in select offices.