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Palliative Home Care in Pennsylvania

People suffering from Stage IV cancer or other serious diseases need special care that combines medical, psychological, and social assistance. Often, when treatment has failed, a person is left alone with his or her problem. Relatives of such a patient usually do not know how to improve their quality of life, how can you help them cope with fears, and relieve pain. Professional home palliative care for cancer patients, the elderly, and the disabled may be the right choice and can positively impact various aspects of the patient’s and loved ones’ lives.

Palliative Care and Hospice

Palliative Care and Hospice

What Is Palliative Care at Home?

The essence of palliative care is not in the treatment of the underlying disease but in the elimination of symptoms that worsen the quality of life of the patient. This approach includes social, cultural, and, if necessary, spiritual care. The principles and standards of palliative care are set out in the so-called White Paper developed by the European Palliative Care Association.
When talking about such a delicate thing as palliative nursing care, it is essential to remember that palliative care is not only a form of medical assistance (like pain management or physiotherapy) but also a huge amount of psychological work for both patient and nurse.
An important part of the work of palliative care professionals is prevention work aimed at averting the exacerbation of chronic illnesses and teaching the patient’s relatives practical skills to care for them. At My American Palliative Care, we work only with nurses that have the best qualifications and all of the necessary skills for home care. Our certified and experienced caregivers provide your loved ones with a high quality of life, respect, kindness, and compassion, and all of this at the patient’s home, in a comfortable zone.
With home palliative care services, you no longer have to hospitalize your loved ones, and they don’t have to be inside dull and sullen hospital walls. Instead, they can be at home, live the rest of their lives with comfort, and go in peace. Palliative care for cancer patients at home or palliative care for the elderly at home will provide you with a quiet sleep and a clean conscience, and your relatives will be relieved of pain, cared for, and helped in all aspects of life.

TESTIMONIALS

What are the advantages of home hospice care?

Hospice makes it possible for people to remain in the comfort of their own home, where most prefer to be over a hospital or convalescence facility, while still getting the specialized medical, physical, and emotional care and support they require.

All American Hospice, the sister agency of All American Home Care, was founded in 2011 on the concept that every individual that receives end-of-life services deserves the best possible care. All American Hospice became one of the top hospice care providers in Pennsylvania in only a few short years, thanks to our compassionate and skilled caregivers and welcoming community.

Both All American Home Care and All American Hospice ensure that care is extended to both patient and family. We treat our patients in the same way we would treat members of our own family, focusing on quality of life and making sure that each individual is able to live as fully and comfortably as possible with their remaining days.

Requirements for Home Health Palliative Care

To provide palliative care at home, the following conditions must be met:

  • The patient wants to die in a habitual home environment, and its condition allows specialists to provide the necessary care at home
  • There are required conditions (financial and temporary) and nurses and/or relatives capable of providing palliative care
  • The doctor and the nurse assume medical, legal and human responsibility for the full range of activities aimed at providing palliative care
  • It is possible to call for professional assistance for treatment and care at home
  • In emergency situations, hospitalization for short-term treatment and care is feasible.

But not only the patient has to prepare for palliative care at home. The nurse or caregiver should also be prepared and aware of all standards and principles of home care for cancer patients. Let’s take a closer look at these things so you can choose the proper person to assist you and your loved one.

Patient’s autonomy and dignity

Every patient should have the right to choose how and where to get care. Palliative care can only be provided with the consent of the patient or his or her relatives (if the patient is unable to make a decision on his or her own). In the process of providing palliative care, the patient should be treated with respect and sensitivity, taking into account his or her personal and religious values.

Continuity of care

This consists of constant monitoring of the patient’s condition, prescription of necessary medicines, and careful attention from the first day of treatment to the last day of treatment. Unexpected changes in the course of treatment should be avoided without the patient’s or loved ones’ consent.

Communication

Multiple studies prove that good communication increases the effectiveness of palliative care. A seriously ill person has often withdrawn from contact with himself or herself. Specialists in palliative care have a responsibility to be able to communicate in difficult situations. On the one hand, it is necessary to convey information about the patient’s condition and prospects as honestly as possible, but on the other hand, to respect the hopes for a positive outcome.

Interdisciplinary approach

In order to achieve the greatest effect in the provision of palliative care for cancer patients, a patient’s relative has the right to invite doctors of various specialties, such as psychologists, social workers, volunteers, and church workers.

Support for family members

This is probably the most important component of palliative care. Throughout the entire period of illness, relatives must be assisted in preparing for the loss and, if necessary, in continuing support after the death of the family member.

TESTIMONIALS

Types of Home Care Provided

Various kinds of palliative help can be provided for the elderly or people with serious diseases. For example, it can be terminal care when a patient has a limited lifetime. In that case, palliative care is provided in the last two or three days before death, regardless of whether the patient dies at home or in non-specialized clinics.

Or it can be weekend assistance when a nurse takes care of the patient only a few days a week. The purpose of such aid is to provide relatives caring for the sick with a short rest. This type of care is provided in daycare centers, special wards, or with the participation of palliative care nursing homes.

Last but not least, it can be full-time help with a nurse living in your house, close to the patient. That kind of support may be the most expensive, but it will provide a sick person with everything he or she needs. The nurse will make sure that the patient feels no pain, has everything he or she needs and lives their last days with dignity.

The final decision is up to you, but remember – regardless of the type of care you choose, you will receive the help of high-quality professional nurses who possess all the required skills to provide your loved one with decent care for the rest of their days.

Palliative Care and Hospice in Philadelphia PA

Palliative Care

Palliative care is an active, comprehensive help to a patient suffering from a disease that cannot be cured. The main task of palliative care is to stop pain and other symptoms, as well as solve social, psychological and spiritual problems.

Aims and objectives of palliative care:

- adequate anesthesia and relief of other severe symptoms of the disease; - psychological support of the patient and his relatives caring for him; - development of attitudes towards death as a regular stage in the life path of man; - the solution of socio-legal and ethical issues that arise in connection with a serious illness and the approach of death to a person.

Palliative care can be provided in outpatient and inpatient settings by medical personnel trained to provide such assistance.

Ambulatory treatment

Palliative care in outpatient settings is provided in the offices of palliative care and outpatient services created in medical organizations (including hospices). People can visit medical institutions, but more often doctors go home to patients (mainly for pain-relieving manipulations).

Many health agencies are beginning to provide palliative care because it can help keep patients with long-term conditions out of the hospital. The center to advance palliative care programs include:

  • elderly palliative care;
  • brain cancer palliative care;
  • breast cancer palliative care;
  • heart failure patients;
  • hospice care
  • children palliative care;
  • liver cancer palliative care;
  • stage 4 lung cancer survival palliative care;
  • ovarian cancer palliative care;
  • pancreatic cancer palliative care;
  • prostate cancer palliative care;
  • stomach cancer palliative care;
  • palliative medical care
  • palliative nursing care
  • pediatric palliative care nurse practitioner;
  • supportive palliative cancer care;
  • stomach cancer palliative care;
  • stage 4 lung cancer palliative care;
  • the center for hospice and palliative care;
  • the center to advance palliative care;

The All American Home Health Care has increased its penalties for hospitals, home health agencies and other providers that have high rehospitalization rates.

Palliative care is provided in the palliative care units, nursing care units of medical organizations, hospices and nursing homes (hospitals). The main indications for the hospitalization of patients in the department: a pronounced pain syndrome that is not amenable to treatment in outpatient settings, including at home; severe manifestations of diseases requiring symptomatic treatment under the supervision of a doctor in a hospital setting; the need for detoxification therapy; selection of a therapy scheme for continuing treatment at home; the need for medical interventions that cannot be performed on an outpatient basis, including at home (performing punctures, installing stents, draining, applying regional anesthesia techniques, etc.).

In the department, conditions are created that enable the patient to visit the patient and stay with his relatives in the medical organization, taking into account the patient's condition, compliance with the anti-epidemic regime and the interests of other persons who work and / or are in the medical organization

Palliative care is performed on the basis of clinical protocols and methods of its delivery and is organized according to the following hierarchical model:

The first level of the provision of the Palliative care is implemented in organizations that carry out medical activities in accordance with the procedure established by the legislation, medical workers who have the basic level of training in the Palliative care. The main method of providing Palliative care at this level is the palliative approach.

The second level of the Palliative care delivery is realized in the organizations that carry out medical activities in the order established by medical workers who have completed postgraduate training in palliative medicine. The main method of providing Palliative care at this level is general palliative care.

The third level of rendering of the Palliative care is realized in the specialized departments of organizations engaged in medical activities in accordance with the procedure established by the Centers, hospices by medical personnel having specialized postgraduate education. The main type of Palliative care at this level is specialized palliative care.

Education and training

Training in palliative medicine is carried out at the following levels:

  • Basic - is included in the training programs for students of medical schools and colleges;
  • Postgraduate education in palliative medicine - is included in training programs for general practitioners and specialists of other profiles;
  • specialized postgraduate education - is included in the programs of training specialists in the field of palliative medicine.

Training programs for the training of personnel in palliative medicine are developed and approved in accordance with legislation and implemented in educational institutions and palliative care centers. The training programs use a multi-professional approach to training, including representatives of non-medical specialties. Scientific research is an integral part of the educational process. International cooperation in the field of education is welcomed.

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