Relatives of patients with severe pain, whose life is supported by drugs, useful information about the hospice - what it is. Medicine uses the phrase "palliative treatment"( from the Latin pallium - cloak), which means helping hopeless patients, staying inside the hospital to improve quality of life and care.
What is a hospice
The term is understood as a medical and social institution to help incurable patients in the last stage of the disease .There was a word from the French hospice - hospitality. It meant a place for tired, sick or exhausted pilgrims and local residents. According to modern terminology, the word means a free charity fund, where the oncological patients are assisted with the last stage, with severe pain. You can get there by medical documents.
The main points of the hospice concept are the following factors - they should be studied carefully:
- puts the patient first with the family;
- care is provided by special personnel, volunteers;The
- institution can provide outpatient and inpatient care at home;
- openness of the diagnosis - the patient is informed of the prognosis while insisting;
- help is needed to reduce pain, fear of death, maximum consciousness, intelligence, physical and psychological comfort.
In Russia, the first profile hospice appeared in Moscow in November 1903.Opened by his professor at Moscow State University, oncologist Levshin. Later, this Moscow hospice became a full-fledged clinic( pictured).In the modern era, the first such Russian institution was opened in 1990 in St. Petersburg, in 2010 - the first children's hospice. Today there are more than 70 such institutions operating in different areas. One hospice should serve the district with a population of up to 400 thousand people. Therefore, in Russia, about 400 such hospitals are still needed.
Services of the institution
Inside the institutions there are nurses, volunteers, nurses, specialists and doctors. Financing of hospices is at the expense of the state and contributions from charitable foundations. The medical and social institution for oncological care has the following minimal services:
- relief of pain, symptoms of the disease;
- is a worthy care;
- medical supplies and equipment;
- consultations, social support;
- solving problems after the patient's death;
- temporary care;
- 24-hour care;
- hospice at home;
- support for volunteers.
Indications for the stay of
The treatment program has no differences in age, gender, religious beliefs, diagnoses, ethnic and cultural factors of .Hospice care by medical personnel is not shown to everyone, for selection of cancer patients there are two important criteria that are fundamental:
- is a fatal incurable stage of the disease;
- to live patient remained less than six months, if the disease will develop the same way.
How to get to the hospice
On the territory of Russia, this type of institution is widespread, such as hospice for cancer patients, their significance can not be overestimated. There patients are sent by district oncologists, social services, visiting services and nursing homes. There are many state institutions working in the country, private ones with palliative care are few. Separately, private nursing homes specialize in the care of elderly people with oncological diseases.
For admission, a referral from a district oncologist or a local health authority for non-residents is required. A specialist of the social service center may be required. For palliative care, you need a passport, a compulsory health insurance policy with the stamp of the institution giving the referral, an extract from the medical history with confirmation of the clinical stage of cancer or incurability. If the patient has no relatives, if radical therapy is not possible from the hospital, he is transferred to palliative care.