Ah-ha! Hospice Care Plans

[AtlantaRN, RN]

Coming from a critical care background, i've been having issues with writing care plans for the hospice patient. In critical care, it's all "cure, cure, cure", "improve, Improve, etc."

I just got a great book off of half.com Textbook of Palliative Nursing-which breaks down -"A comprehensive plan develops and goals are identified in 3 areas: 1. patient family goals, 2 life-closure goals, and 3. clinical obligation goals.

Now, I'm all over the clinical obligation goals; safety, skin integrity, (but this book identifies 3. as identifying problems of issues that the patient and family are unable to identify themselves...

this text identifies 1. patient family goals are just that---what the patient and family identify as their goals...and should be written from their perspective of how things "should happen". i.e. being able to care for a spouse while he or she is bedridden; ranking pain 3 out of 10 at meal times so that the patient can join the family at the table.

2. life-closure goals relate to the end-of-life accomplishments, the completion of unfinished business, landmarks and tasks of dying, and the emotional/spiritual separation of dying--this may include taking "that last trip to say goodbye to my brother."

This text hopefully will help me develop care plans that are appropriate for the hospice patient. Up to this point, nursing has been addressing the clinical obligation goals.

linda

[Rnmomajmj]

I know we have been looking into careplans for our hospice, ours are much like the nursing home careplans.

Can you give me the ISBN number from the book?

Thanks

[sharona97, BSN, RN]

Hi there,

I just searched on allnurses search for hospice care plans and came up with some wonderful sites. Check it out!