Overview of End-of-Life Care
Presented by Patty Warring and Lu Krieger-Blake LCSW
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Financial— Lu Krieger-Blake receives compensation from MedBridge for the production of this course. There are no other relevant financial relationships. Nonfinancial— No relevant nonfinancial relationship exists.
This course gives nurses, therapists, and social workers an overview of hospice care, relevant to practice in multiple settings—including rehabilitation, acute care, long-term care, home health care, and assisted living. The course includes a description of the hospice philosophy of comfort versus cure, criteria for hospice care, the team approach to providing care, the services provided to patients/families by hospice teams, and payment sources. Learners will receive information about the referral process, advance care planning, and guidelines for various disease conditions appropriate for hospice care.
Meet your instructors
Patty Warring
Patricia Warring has been a registered nurse since graduating from Missouri Western State College in 1990 with a BSN degree. She earned an MSN from Valparaiso University in the clinical nurse specialist role, adult health. Patricia’s clinical nursing experience includes five years of medical/surgical/oncology in an acute…
Lu Krieger-Blake LCSW
Luana S. “Lu” Krieger-Blake LCSW, MSW, BA Lu Krieger-Blake has been a clinical practitioner for all 45 years of her Social Work career. In her 25 years as a hospice medical social worker, she lived out her “heart’s mission” by bringing her compassion and skill to help patients and families navigate their end-of-life…
Chapters & learning objectives
1. Hospice Philosophy
Professional care staff, including nurses, therapists, and social workers need knowledge of the hospice philosophy of care because patients in many settings will face the need for end-of-life choices. This chapter covers the hospice philosophy and a brief history of the hospice movement, as well as its growth from a volunteer/grass roots program to a mainstream component of medical care in the US.
2. Advance Care Planning
Professional care staff need to recognize that they may be involved in difficult discussions with patients and families related to disease progression and decline. They may also be required to educate a patient and family about choices for ongoing care. Hospice could be one of these choices. Advance care planning is inherent to development of a patient/family driven plan of care. This chapter will discuss the documents by which patients may legally define their wishes.
3. Role of Hospice Care and the Referral Process
Professional care staff will learn about the services provided by hospice including the team approach, inclusion of family as the unit of care, and the roles of the various disciplines in implementing care. The financial coverage of medications related to the terminal illness, equipment to enhance comfort, and respite and inpatient care will also be explained. Medicare and most insurance plans now cover hospice care.
4. Admission Criteria
Nurses, therapists, and social workers will be given a brief overview of various diseases, which are typically appropriate for hospice care. General guidelines provided by Medicare will be explored for the diseases that are often referred to hospice for end-of-life care. The referral process requires contact with the hospice agency as well as inclusion of the patient’s physician and the hospice medical director.