HOSPICE TEAM MEMBERS
can provide the following services:
Primary Physician (Attending Physician)
- Provides the hospice team with medical
history
- Oversees medical care through regular
communication with the hospice team
- Provides orders for medications and
tests, signs death certificate, etc.
- Determines his or her level of involvement
on a case-by-case basis with the hospice medical director
Hospice Physician (Hospice Medical
Director)
- Provides expertise in pain and symptom
control at the end of life
- Works closely with the hospice team
and primary physician to determine appropriate medical interventions
- May oversee the plan of care, write
orders, and consult with patient and family regarding disease
progression and appropriate medical interventions on a case-by-
case basis
Professional RN (Hospice Nurse
Case Manager)
- Visits patient and family in the home,
nursing home or residential setting (Maria Hall) on regular
basis
- On-call RN provides services for emergencies,
24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year
- Assesses pain, symptoms, nutritional
status, bowel functions, safety, and psychosocial- spiritual
concerns
- Educates patient and family about disease
progression, use of medications, daily care needs, and other
aspects of the overall plan of care
- Educates and supervises nursing assistants
- Provides emotional and spiritual support
to patient and family to cope with functional limitations, caregiver
stress, and grief
Home Health Aide (Certified Nursing
Assistant - CNA)
- Assists patient with activities of daily
living such as bathing and dressing
- Provides a variety of other services
depending on assessment of need
Social Worker (Medical Social Worker
- MSW)
- Attends to both practical needs and
counseling needs of patient and family based on initial and
ongoing assessment
- Serves as liaison with community agencies
such as Department of Human
- Services, Department of Aging, and Public
Aid office
- Assists family in finding services to
address financial needs and legal matters such as Power of Attorney,
Wills etc.
- Provides counseling related to family
communication
- Assesses patient and family anxiety,
depression, role changes, caregiver stress
- Provides general grief counseling
Chaplain (Spiritual Care Counselor)
- Provides patient and family with spiritual
counseling to address questions of hope, meaning, despair, fear
of death, relationship with divine, need for forgiveness, loss
of life purpose
- Assists patient and family in sustaining
their religious practice and in drawing upon religious/spiritual
beliefs to cope with illness, dying, and grief
- Ensures that patient and family religious
or spiritual beliefs and practices are respected by the hospice
team, for example: dietary restrictions, rituals to be observed
at the time of death, disposition of the body
- Serves as a liaison with the patient/family
faith community and clergy
- May conduct funeral and memorial services
for patients and families as requested
- Provides hospice staff with spiritual
care and counseling
Bereavement Coordinator (Grief
Support)
- Provides bereavement services to the
patient, family and loved ones in the form of:
-
Emotional and spiritual support to cope with grief
-
Visits and/or phone contacts
-
Short term counseling
-
Assessment of need and referrals to community resources and/or
support groups
- Educational
forums
-
Written information on the grief process
-
Annual memorial service of remembrance
Volunteers (Friends of Home Health,
Home Hospice, and Maria Hall)
- Provide respite care to family members
- May assist with light housekeeping or
grocery shopping
- Help patients stay connected with community
groups and activities
- Facilitates special projects such as
memoirs/legacy work, letters to family, and massage therapy
- May provide community education and
outreach
- May assist with office work
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