What Is Hospice Care?
Patients with incurable illnesses such as cancer are provided with specialized care and support. In hospice programs, the patients whose illness is diagnosed to be terminal towards the end of their lives, the hospices provide care until the final time comes.
It does not mean that hospice care should be attained continuously. Patients that feel well or their physical condition becomes stable at a point can take a break from hospice care. Patients with severe illness are taken under the care and responsibility of the hospices.
For most people, home is the place where the person spends his final days of life. Supporting the concept of dying at home can result in a positive impact for both the patients and the caregivers. That is why many patients prefer to be at home at the time of death when it comes to the final days of their lives.
If you are not sure if you should receive end-of-life care in your home with hospice or choose otherwise, keep reading this article to know more about it.
Dying At Home With Hospice Vs. Dying In The Hospital: What Should I Choose?
Dying At Home With Hospice
As more people have learned about the advantages of enrolling in the hospice program to receive end-of-life care, they have started to choose to die in the comfort of their own home with hospice. Most studies show that the patients who choose to die at home tend to have a peaceful and better transition than those who choose to die in a hospital.
Dying at home with hospice care means you are with your loved ones, and they are there for you when you need them instead of only seeing them during the visiting hours of a hospital. Having your loved ones by your side means you can have all the physical and emotional support.
Moreover, when your loved ones are there with you every step of the way, they will be more confident of your care plan. According to a study by Biomed Central, grief tends to lessen for the relatives of a person who chooses to die in his own home.
Some patients are frightened about living at home with a terminal illness. As they feel a burden on their family members, they don’t prefer to stay at home. But the importance of staying with your family and loved ones are still there. Understanding the difference between being helped by a hospice care program in which a patient is helped all the time and taken care of and dying at a hospital is important.
Family members can become caregivers if they do not hesitate to take responsibility. During the last moments of the patient, the family members willing to take care of the patient can be there for help. Most of the patients choose this program when they know they are going to die.
Dying in a Hospital
Well, dying in a hospital is not new to hear, as most people prefer to die in a hospital. In this situation, patients are provided with palliative care whose death is imminent. The patient is provided with “comfort care” to lessen the depressing symptoms of death appearing one week before the actual death of the patient.
Specific measures are used to provide comfort to the patient with modern tools and equipment. All the elements in this approach are used to attain comfort from severe pain and distressing symptoms of life-threatening illness.
Moreover, the great advantage of the hospital is that the patient receives clinical competence along with physical management at the time of the end of life. Patients are psychologically distressed and anxious when they know that the time has come near their death. Hospitals are specific in this regard and make all the possible measures for the comfort of patients.
A team of experts is always available near the patient and the latest medical equipment. Under the monitoring of doctors, any side effect or severe physical condition. The patient’s family is relieved that their member is under the monetization of experts, and they can be relaxed about it.
On the other hand, for a dying patient, it would be better to stay around his loved ones and get care through hospices. So in many cases, hospice care is preferred over the hospital. A dying patient will be happier if his family is around him when it’s time for the end of his life.
While in some cases, hospital care may have some limitations that can make it a less preferable option. For example, a teaching hospital has less privacy for dying patients as students are always there for their practices and experiments.
Moreover, the patients are under the consideration of doctors and staff, so they are always under extreme medical care. So when the patient feels better or feels that they do not need such equipment around them, they cannot help it.
Though it is safer for the patient to be under special medical care in the hospital for a dying patient, it cannot be a happier moment when their family visits daily in his hospital room. He may feel better in his home around the people he loves with the help of hospice care.
Another big issue in this regard is finance. Most of the time, people prefer to take their patient to a home near his death as they have to face financial issues in the hospital. Charges of medical care in any hospital are easier to be paid for by everyone.
You can take help from your local hospice programs or the hospital near you to provide suitable options according to your patient’s condition. Sometimes taking suggestions from a person who is an expert in the field can save the patient’s life when it comes to a matter of life or death of your loved ones. You can check details on the websites of different hospice programs as they have different charges according to the patient’s condition.
The Bottom Line
It is entirely up to the patient and his family to choose whether to go for hospice care at home or die at the hospital. Both scenarios have their pros and cons, and in this article, we have discussed both so that you can make an informed decision for your loved one.