What kind of staff works at hospice?

Hospice care staff members are kind and caring. They communicate well, are good listeners, and are interested in working with families who are coping with a life-threatening illness. They are usually specially trained in the unique issues surrounding death and dying. Yet, because the work can be emotionally draining, it is very important that support is available to help the staff with their own grief and stress. Ongoing education about the dying process is also an important part of staff support.

Hospice staff makes up a unique care model for patient care based on the comfort of the patient and family. Each patient and their identified family or support system are an important part of the interdisciplinary group (IDG). This team also includes patient’s doctors, nurses, social worker, chaplain, and volunteers. Each person in the IDG has an equal influence on the care plan formation for the patient. The primary RN coordinates this flexible care plan, at the direction of the patient and family.

Hospice staff must be excellent listeners who are able to put the comfort of the patient first. Hospice works from the realization that each patient has a complex interaction between physical, emotional, social, and spiritual aspects of their being which all affect the suffering experience (total pain) of patients. All hospice workers must, therefore, assess total pain with the patient. This type of healthcare assessment takes the professional out of their traditional comfort zone. Social workers talking to the patient about physical symptoms can offer an aspect of needs, a doctor or nurse, might not have shared with the patient. Hospice staff must therefore, be exceptional communicators with patients and each other.

Since hospice care is exclusively focused on comfort, treatment consequently, may be otherwise curative. An example of curative comfort care includes antibiotics for a local infection to ease symptoms of the infection. The patient might not want antibiotics for an infection because side effects cause more personal discomfort. The team will then not use the antibiotic, even if medically it would be a good treatment option. Hospice staff must be able to compromise between treatment options to meet the patient’s goals for comfort. Hospice workers then must be able to ethically support the patient’s decisions.  Hospice generally does not rely on constant highly technical monitoring but rather intent physical examination of the patient. Hospice staff needs exceptional clinical assessment and diagnostic skills, but mostly hospice staff is empathetic and caring.