The Role of Nurses in Hospice Care

Whether you’re seeking hospice care in Maquoketa or anywhere within our service area, we want to shed light on the vital role of nurses in hospice care.

The Role of Nurses in Hospice Care

Our nursing staff plays an important role as a member of your hospice team. We create a hospice team to deal with the specific needs of you or your loved one.

The Role of Nurses on the Hospice Team

• Education – The nurse is responsible for making sure all members of the hospice team understand about the health problem the patient is dealing with; whether the health issue is the main reason for facing the end of life process or is a part of other health issues the patient is facing. Our nurses will also help educate the patient and their family if needed.
• Supervision – While the physician will often be the main supervisor of hospice care; nurses provide immediate supervision to the hospice team. As the supervisor they will serve as the main person who creates a plan of action to make the patient as comfortable as possible.
• Direction – Nurses will provide direction to the staff and family. For instance, they may guide the family in finding coping mechanisms or provide direction for age appropriate materials that deal with losing a loved one. Our hospice care staff will certainly seek direction from the plan of action in place.
• Assessments – The role of nurses in hospice care include making assessments throughout the time of care. Every patient is different and there is no “schedule” according to illness. The skills of the nurses involved will help the patient, staff, and most importantly the family to have a better understanding of what may come next.
• Intermittent Care – While our hospice care workers provide the majority of care during hospice; the role of nurses in hospice care is to provide certain special health care needs. In particular administering drugs and overseeing other parts of the hospice care that require a skilled nursing staff is the main function of the hospice nurse. This means that even though you may not see them for an entire shift, they will still be fully informed and provide assistance as needed.

As we’ve discussed in other articles about hospice care, we always focus on the comfort of the patient first and foremost.

The Role of the Nurse in Hospice Even After the Loss

You might assume the role of the hospice nurse ends once your loved one has passed. However, one of the benefits of utilizing Above & Beyond’s hospice services includes continued bereavement services. Our services, including our hospice nurses, will continue to guide you through the bereavement process.

• Continued Education – With many diseases there is often a fear that you or members of your family are now at an increased risk of being struck with the same life threatening disease. The role of nurses in hospice is to not only be there to educate during hospice but they will continue to help you and your family understand more about the disease even after hospice care has ended. In short, they will help our bereavement team provide you with information to help you better understand the medical questions you may have.
• Providing Home Care Services – Often, when a loved one passes, their spouse will be in poor health. This article provides some insight to the often heard of “broken heart syndrome.” It is not uncommon to hear of seniors becoming ill and passing shortly after the loss of their spouse.
  Our nurses can provide an assessment to determine if in home caregiving can be helpful to the spouse or other family members who may have depended heavily on the person who has passed.
• Continued Support – We offer a number of services that can help a family get through troubled times of illness and death. Afterwards, keeping a close eye on senior loved ones is important.
  We offer continued support through our caregiving services, social work services, and bereavement services. Many times the role of the nurse in hospice care will continue with the family if there is an increased risk of health issues, especially in an elderly spouse or adult child who was dependent on the person who has passed.

The Continuing Need for a Nurse in Hospice Care or Other Services

To summarize the role of a hospice nurse it’s easy to see that they are vital in both hospice care and after care services. Above & Beyond offers help, not only in hospice care, but in many avenues of health care needs.

The best part of using our services is that we are here for you for the long haul. We provide in home health care needs, hospice care, bereavement support and social support. Having the ability to provide nurses in hospice care and other areas of health care is just another way we offer support “Above & Beyond” the typical services expected.

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