Something to Think About

We need to explain the way most people die — especially the not so pretty parts. This includes the sounds, movements, pees, poops, frowns, grimaces, and the struggles that accompany...

Part of "selling" hospice is to create trust and a bond during that first meeting. It takes people skills in addition to knowledge of hospice benefits...

Families are stressed and frightened and by the time they finally reach out for hospice services, they have already wanted and needed them for days if not weeks.

As end of life approaches, people start looking at their life; what they’ve accomplished, not done, who they have touched, interacted with, and the relationships they have or have not built...

All the hours of talking, drinking coffee, and eating homemade pies was time spent healing, building trust, and educating. It wasn’t about blood pressures. It was about people, feelings, and...

I believe everyone has the right to be told once that they can’t be fixed. It is the physician’s job to compassionately and honestly give that information...  

How do we get beyond the social conventions of strangers meeting and getting to know and trust each other in a very short time? From the time we ring the...

In the ideal picture, the goal is the patient’s death. Everything that is done before the death is preparation for the actual moment death occurs. Everything after the death gradually eases...

Working with end of life in the medical field often leaves us feeling like outliers. The medical model is to fix people. Working with dying generally isn’t addressed in training. (It’s...

Why is the patient being discharged, you ask? Is it because the patient just didn’t decline as rapidly as expected? Yes, that can be the situation...

I knew all the signs of approaching death, of labor beginning. What I didn’t know was how much we don’t want to see those signs, and by not wanting to see them,...

Dying isn't like it is in the movies. We don't know what it is like to die from disease or old age and while everyone is going to do it,...

We are not able to fix everyone. The physical body is programmed to die. It is made to die. So at some point the medical professionals will have to have...

"How do you reach out to a non-religious person who believes the end is the end?" You don't...

In today’s hospice environment time spent with patients and families seem to be what agencies have the least to offer. My suggestion is the chaplain can fill in that time...

Dying is not a medical event. Dying is a communal, social event. Nursing and physicians are part of care, but not the all encompassing focus. The main focus of end...

I want to clarify my thoughts about hospice in today’s environment...  

A waiting list seems incongruous with end of life. Particularly since most people wait until a person is literally on death’s door before reaching out to hospice...

What happens if you are a hospice nurse or CNA or social worker and the patient or family begins a conversation about spirituality? Listen, facilitate the conversation but...

The greatest gift you have to give is time. It won’t be the words you say, even the guidance you give, although that is all very important. It will be...

During these two years hospice has had to work through Zoom meetings, masked face to face, and lots and lots of phone calls. There has been very little face to face,...