Frequency of visits

[Tom Maxwell, RN]

I've been trying to find the standards for frequency of nurse visits for the actively dying patient and I'm having difficulty locating it. Can anyone tell me if there are standards for frequency, or is it always dictated by the case manager. If your patient is actively dying does the nurse visit daily, whether RN or LPN? Thanks

[Hospice Nurse LPN, BSN, RN]

When we have a pt who is actively dying, we make visits 6 days/week with a phone call on Sunday.....unless the PCG asks us not to visit so often. Visits are usually made by the LPN

[ErinS, BSN, RN]

We generally do daily SN visits on someone who is actively dying, however sometimes a pt is actively dying very slowly and is well managed, and their family is coping well. In these cases I will do 3 visits a week with phone calls on the other days.

[tewdles, RN]

Hospice requires that the POC be individualized for each patient and the frequency of nursing visits is part of that process. The must be visited by an RN at least once QOW.

When patients are actively dying the nursing frequency often increases because the symptom burden often changes and the care givers/family require more support and teaching. This is, however, not a given. And, as said before, sometimes the actively dying (and their families) do not require daily nursing visits. In those instances we often try to increase the frequency of other disciplines to provide that additional support on a daily basis until death.