It’s a quite common question as to what hospice does provide when the patient is living at home. Let’s go over the meat and potatoes.
1- Medications: All comfort medications and medications related to the terminal illness are covered by hospice. …
According to the CDC, over three hundred thousand people over sixty-five suffer from hip fractures each year due to falls. Those of you who have taken geriatric patients who have had recent broken hips know the seriousness of how this type of injury impacts your patients; often hip fractures are…
One of the most misunderstood areas of hospice is inpatient hospice known as GIP. I’ve had hospital staff and families have the wrong idea about GIP. On the family side, I’ve had home patient families think GIP is available upon request no matter the reason. …
What if you are not able to take care of your loved one at their house or your house? What if you and your loved one do not want to go into any type of sterile facility such as assisted living or a skilled nursing facility? …
One of the hardest lessons to learn as a nurse, in my experience and opinion, is the psychosocial skills necessary to help patients and their families work towards their healthcare goals. These skills are applicable to every field. While I, myself, am still growing as a registered nurse (heading towards…
There are several reasons why a patient under your care might start having episodes of hemoptysis, coughing up blood. Whatever the cause, hemoptysis generally causes distress to the patient who most likely will also have respiratory distress and emotional distress for your patient’s loved ones.
My clinical manager recently shared a story from an admission she did in early July 2021. She went out to admit a patient with multiple cancer diagnoses who was sent home from the hospital to pass away at home. …
I don’t know about you, but every time I see a patient and their family for the first time and take their vitals as part of the nursing assessment, either after each vital or at the end of the vital checks, I’m asked something to the effect of “is that…
Pain is referred to as the 5th vital sign with the other four being temperature, pulse, blood pressure, and respiration count. The last four mentioned are objective signs measured with reasonable precision and accuracy with pain being subjective.
The pain rating (0–10/10) is whatever the patient tells you. Yet, what…
I remember being called to a huddle with another RN, several LPNs and a number of CNAs to be told we have our first case of COVID-19. A 102-year-old with lung disease and dementia who was well known among the 150 residents of the nursing home where I was recently…
