Earlier Hospice Admittance Connected to Better End-of-Life Care
For many families with terminally ill elderly loved ones, hospice care offers the best support in tending to their needs. Unlike other forms of medical treatment, hospice places a greater emphasis on pain management and keeping patients comfortable than on trying to cure or prevent a condition.
There are many factors to consider when deciding if it’s time for an elderly family member to begin receiving hospice care. For families who are unsure when to start hospice treatment, it may help to know that research shows benefits to early hospice enrollment.
Early hospice entry leads to better perceptions of care
Choosing to skip intensive care unit visits in place of hospice care may improve patients’ final days. According to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, family members who had recently lost an elderly loved one to cancer reported better end-of-life care when their loved one chose hospice early on. Fifty-nine percent of those surveyed said their loved one had excellent end-of-life care when he or she had spent three days or more in hospice in the final days. Only 43 percent of respondents said the end-of-life care was excellent when their loved ones were in hospice for less than three days.
Families who had their loved one in an intensive care unit in the 30 days before death were also less likely to have positive perception of the end-of-life care than those who did not visit an ICU. Patients who passed away in a hospital were less likely to have families who viewed the end-of-life care as positively as the people whose loved ones spent their final days outside of a hospital.
The study focused on elderly patients, mostly men over the age of 75, who had advanced stages of cancer. Researchers suggested that aggressive treatment plans in these late stages may not align with patients’ desires for end-of-life care. Many of these treatment options can cause pain and discomfort, and may not always work to cure late stages of the disease. That’s why some patients may prefer to forgo treatment to focus instead on comfort and pain management for their final days.
The benefits of hospice care
Millions of people each year turn to hospice services for comfortable and respectful end-of-life care. It is a well-established industry in the medical field, staffed by highly trained healthcare professionals. Patients receiving hospice care will still be seen and cared for by their doctors and medical teams, but will often do so in an out-patient setting.
For many elderly patients, the aggressive treatments that can be used to treat harsh diseases can make them feel as bad as the disease itself might. For some, trying to keep fighting in the hopes of healing completely is worth a shot. For others, they would prefer to spend their last days in a more relaxed and comfortable setting.
It’s important for family members to discuss the end-of-life care goals of their loved ones. Many patients will benefit from being able to have a hospice support team come to their homes, rather than spending their last days in a hospital or nursing home. Hospice workers can stop by to administer medicines on a set schedule and will also be on call 24 hours a day for sudden emergencies or to answer questions. Most hospice services receive coverage from Medicare, so that families have options. Patients who choose hospice care will still receive excellent treatment, just with different goals in mind.
