Exam Flashcards
When was hospice first introduced
First introduced in Middle Ages, referred to a place of shelter or refuge for weak and tired travellers seeking a place to rest, the down and out and the sick and dying
What is hospice now?
A holistic or whole person (body mind and soul) philosophy or model of health care for dying persons and their families
- combines medical care (good pain relief and symptom control) and compassionate care (emotional social and spiritual and practical support)
- a physical bricks and mortar place (ie residential hospice)
What is Palliative care and what are some other terms for it
To "palliate" or provide "palliative care" generally means to provide relief from pain and any other distressing symptoms or a disease without actually trying to cure the underlying cause(s) of the disease Other terms: End of life care Compassionate care Comfort care Supportive care Terminal care -we say hospice palliative care in Canada and in the US they say Hospice care
What is the Canadian Hospice Palliative Care Association (CHPCA) definition for hospice palliative care?
Care that is “aimed at relief of suffering and improving the quality of life for persons who are living with or dying from advanced illness”
Where do Canadians die
- hospital (in an acute care bed or a multi bed palliative care unit)
- nursing home
- residential hospice (Bobys house)
- dying persons home
- prison
- on the street/abandoned building/car/or shelter for homeless
What is the admission criteria for Bobb’s house in St. John NB?
- 18+
- NB Medicare card
- less than 3 months expected
- cannot be supported at home
- limited diagnostic tests or treatments required
- patients and family aware of diagnosis and prognosis and agree agree to palliative end of life care with no extraordinary life saving measures
- do not resuscitate (DNR) in place
What is the cost of care for hospice palliative care houses?
- only cost to patients and families is medication coverage
- all other costs are free (nursing care, housing, food, supplies etc)
When/where and who started the first modern hospice care
1967-Dame Saunders founded st. Christopher’s Hospice(54 beds) in the U.K.(London), the first in a long line of modern hospices.
-“a place of refuge for terminally ill against pain, indignity and isolation while making the journey from life to death”
When and where was the first palliative care in Canada?
Began in 1974 in hospitals in Winnipeg and Montreal
- Dr. Mount visited St. Christopher’s in London and meet with Saunders to see for himself how Hospice model worked
- > he created a 12 bed unit (Hospice like) in the Royal Victoria hospital
- Dr. Mount coined the term palliative care (a place of last resort to the poor-French roots)
- Mount is widely regarded as the “father of Canada’s Hospice Palliative care”
What are some attributes to Hospice palliative care?
-the gold standard when it comes to providing care for dying and grew out of reaction to the “medicalization of death”
- 2 patients: person dying and family of dying person
- circle of care around the 2 patients (interdisciplinary team of caregivers working together to meet the individuals needs of the patient and their family -therapists, social workers, physicians, nurses, trained volunteers, spiritual councillors)
- focus is on caring, not curing (doesn’t aim to hasten or postpone death
- affirms life and regards death as a normal process
- variety of bereavement and counselling services for family members both during and after loved ones death
- enhance quality of life and relief from pain/distressing symptoms
Two major functions of funeral practices
- To separate the body of the deceased from the community of the living
- To assist mourners in adjusting to their loss and to help the mourners restructure their lives without the presence of the person who died
What are some important benefits that funeral serve
- provide of social support system for the bereaved
- help the bereaved face the reality that someone they love has died
- provide a safe environment for acknowledging and expressing one’s feelings of loss and grief
- Mark and important conclusion to someone’s life
- provide time to say goodbye
- help the bereaved begin the healing process
Difference between a funeral service and memorial service
Deceased persons body is present at a funeral service but not for memorial service (body is already buried or cremated)
What are the 5 typical elements usually found in many contemporary North American funerals
- Removal of the body from the place where death has occurred and usually taking it to the funeral home -usually from hospital or nursing home
- preparing the body for viewing or final disposition.
- embalming: usually done when there’s extended period of time before the burial or if you have an open casket.drains bodily fluids and replace it with preserving fluids (Refrigeration is in alternative)
- cosmetic work: restoring the dead to life like appearance (Open glueing eyes and mouth shut. Emphasis on face and hands) - Visitation or viewing.
- Funeral service
- church or funeral home - Disposition or disposal of bodies
- in ground, entombment, cremation (less expensive route)
What are some alternatives to traditional burials
- do it yourself (at home funerals)
- Internet sites that offer homemade coffin plans, do it yourself and embalming and kits etc.
- Green/Eco funerals
- handwoven wicker coffins, “ecopod” – a coffin made entirely from recycled paper
- Green burial sites for Eco burials
- organic burial pod – turn remains into nutrients or tree/your life fuels another life
- mushroom burial suit – cleanses body of toxins before returning it to nature.leave behind pollutant free compound - Donating body to science
What are some of the unusual options of saving or disposing of a love ones cremains
- Lifegem- developed a carbon collection kit that makes jewellery with ashes, however diamonds are expensive
- Cremation memorials – wear it as a necklace or hang it somewhere/a lot cheaper
- Heavenly Star Wars fireworks – make firework from love ones ashes
- eternal Reeves – refills composed partly of cremains on sea floor
- launch a symbolic portion of loved ones remains into space, 1 g of ashes
- have remains compacted into a sports ball/bag/rifle shelves/beer bottles/etc.
- personal head urn/expensive
- tattoos from ashes dust
How long does normal grieving take
It takes as long as it takes, there are no shortcuts
What are subsequent temporary upsurges of grief (STUGs)
-brief periods in which the grief for the deceased is experienced afresh, as if the bereavement had been very recent
-usually triggered by something that stimulates a memory about the deceased loved one and remind you of their absence.
Example. A significant date, a holiday, an event(wedding/birth), smell, meaningful piece of music