End of Life Care

Paper Summary:

The paper examines three programs that dominate EOL care in the current healthcare sector in the US. These include the inpatient/ICU or hospital-based palliative care program, nursing homes and hospice EOL programs. The paper analyzes their efficiencies, explains the advantages and disadvantages of ICU palliative care programs and finally posits that among the three, both hospice and nursing home programs are determined as better options than the ICU program. The paper explains that this is primarily because these two programs provide the care, efficiency and satisfaction that the elderly need as they go through the end of life phase in their lives.

From the Paper:

"The argument for the ICU palliative programs is put forth by Imhof (2005), who recommended utilizing the ICU palliative programs provided in hospitals (hospital-based programs). EOL care services, as argued by the author, provide numerous benefits to the facility of the patient's care, that is, hospital-based programs "require limited organizational effort, pose minimal risk, and cause little disruption to the ongoing operations of the organization" (161). Apart from these advantages of the hospital's palliative programs, patients enjoy other services that come with the program, such as the provision of informational literature for the patient and his/her family, consultation services, palliative care rooms, and additional linkages with the community through collaboration with local hospice, home health agencies, and long-term care facilities and integration into the community (of the patient) (162)."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Anderson, R. (2003). "Nursing home quality, chain affiliation, profit status, and performance." Journal of Real Estate Research, Vol. 25, Issue 1.
• Backstrand, R. (2006). "Providing a "good death": critical care nurses' suggestions for improving end-of-life care." American Journal of Critical Care, Vol. 15, Issue 1.
• Elliot, D. (2006). "Determining the financial impact of hospice." Healthcare Financial Management, Vol. 60, Issue 7.
• Imhof, S. (2005). "What do we owe the dying? Strategies to strengthen end-of-life care." Journal of Healthcare Management, Vol. 50, Issue 3.
• Robichaux, C. (2006). "Practice of expert critical care nurses in situations of prognostic conflict at the end of life." American Journal of Critical Care, Vol. 15, Issue 5.

More papers on End of Life Care:

• Essay # 60306 : "End-of-Life Care"
• Research Paper # 91857 : "Religion and Spirituality in End-of-life Care"
• Analytical Essay # 136881 : "End-of-Life Care Issues"
• Term Paper # 139949 : "Issues in End-of-Life Care"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: