Breaking Down the Hospice Care Team: Roles and Responsibilities

Hospice care is specialized healthcare that primarily aims at taking care of terminally ill patients and their families. The emphasis here is more on comfort, dignity, and quality of life as opposed to seeking cures for diseases. In this regard, a hospice team of professionals comprises a group of individuals, with the assistance of compassionate friends, who aim at achieving the physical, emotional, social, and spiritual comfort of their patients and their families. In order to appreciate the scope of care provided under hospice, it’s vital to know the scope of service each caregiver presents.

1. The Hospice Team: An Overview

The hospice team functions as a cohesive unit, working together to develop and implement a personalized care plan for each patient. This plan evolves as the patient’s needs change, ensuring a responsive and tailored approach. Such a health care approach is important especially in the provision of care at the end of life because it ensures that the team concentrates on every part of the patient’s well-being.

2. Core Members of the Hospice Care Team

Physician: The Physician in charge of the hospice implements the medical treatment of a patient and watches whether the therapies are consistent with hospice principles. He or her duties consist:

• Evaluation of the patient and intervention of pain or other symptoms.
• Cooperation with the primary physician of the patient in order to provide consistent and timely treatment.
• Providing clinical recommendations to the hospice staff for effective assistance.
• The physician’s guidance is necessary since developing a care plan that seeks to maximize the comfort of the patient would consider the desires of the patient at all times.

Nurse: Hospice registered nurses are constantly delivering direct care and are usually the first contact that families encounter. Their functions include:

• Administering medicines and evaluating medication effectiveness.
• Training informal caregivers on how to accomplish specific tasks related to care on a day-to-day basis.
• Modifying and altering care plans with respect to reinforcements required.
• The nurses also ensure that the patient is well taken care of and alleviates the tensions of the families.

Social Worker: Social work concentrates on the provision of interventions that will help clients overcome social and psychological barriers. These include:

• Helping with any financial aspect such as aid applications or finding assistance.
• Encouraging patients and caregivers to talk about advanced treatment wishes and end-of-life care.
• And, counselling strategies and information for family members about practical and psychological aspects of making a decision.
• Social workers try to make sure that the family members have everything and feel supported enough to overcome this period without being ejected by it.

Chaplain or Spiritual Counsellor: Any hospice program understands the importance of spiritual care in helping patients find solace and meaning in their suffering. These chaplains or spiritual counsellors provide:

• Counselling is consistent with the client’s belief system.
• Crisis intervention during the emotional and existential upheaval.
• Provision of cultural/religious practices that provide relief.
• They aim to comfort and help patients irrespective of their religion or spirituality.

Home Health Aide: Home health aides provide assistance with personal care activities in order to help the patient preserve his or her dignity and comfort. 

Their duties consist of:

• Assisting in bathing, hygiene, dressing, and other related activities.
• Assisting the patient’s movement as well as positioning him or her in a way that is comfortable.
• Keeping the patient company and providing basic emotional support.
• A home health aide helps the patients by making sure that they are taking care of them as well as going on with their daily activities as normal.

Volunteers: Hospice volunteers play a significant role in the team, exhibiting compassion and commitment in their tasks. They help in the following ways

• Offering companionship and engagement with activities.
• Performing errands or doing some light housekeeping.
• Taking over the care of the patient to provide a break to the primary caregiver.
• Shedding light on how deep such bonds become between the patients and the volunteers and how they become a great source of joy to the patients.

Bereavement Counsellor: It is known that the work of a bereavement counsellor commences after the death of a patient. His/her responsibilities include the following:

• Counselling of relatives on how to deal with a loss.
• Provision of groups where experiences are shared for purposes of healing.
• Assistance to the relatives in the process of bereavement.
• Bereavement counselling enables no family to sustain its loss in silence.
• How the Hospice Team Works Together

The hospice team works within a group, with each member working together in the planning, monitoring, and evaluation of the individual patient’s care. All members of the team take part in defined parts of care so that care is given in a complete manner. In other words, it is extremely important to work as a unit in order to achieve the desired results in patient care.

3. The Impact on Families

The hospice team extends its care from the patient also to the family members. These family members can also be educated and given emotional as well as respite support during such times of caregiving and bereavement, which aids them in dealing with the losses. Such care provides a considerate atmosphere for the patient and the patient’s relatives.

Conclusion

The members of the hospice care team maintain the right balance between professionalism, compassion, and commitment to their work. Every individual member has such distinct tasks, which are directed toward meeting the physical, psychological as well as spiritual needs of the patients and their families. This division of labour enables the team to provide even the most culturally acceptable care that is integrated with all the patients that they attend to. The way a patient gets relieved of pain, the emotional care that is given, and the simple communication given by members of the hospice care are all aimed at ensuring the last days of a patient who is dying are lived as peacefully as possible.

Looking for the Best Hospice Care of Greater Portland & Salem, OR?

At VistaRiver, we believe in providing the right care at the right time to the whole person. We guarantee a superior level of care and support for our patients and their families. If you have any questions or want to speak with someone, we’d love to hear from you. A real person will reach out to you in 24 hours! Call us at: +1 503-542-7090 or Visit: https://www.vistariver.com/