Rehab Hospice and Palliative Care

Approximately 90 million Americans are living with serious and terminal illness. In 2017, 1.49 million Medicare beneficiaries were enrolled in hospice care. The concept of Hospice care was first introduced in United States by Dr. Saunders in 1963. Hospice care involves a team-orientedapproach to providing quality, compassionate care to people and their families facing life-limiting illness. In addition to medical expertise and pain management skills, professionals provide emotional and spiritual support to patients and their families tailored to their needs and wishes. Palliative care is dedicated to the improvement of quality of life for patientssuffering from life threatening diseases. Hospice and palliative care and delivery is commonly misunderstood both by patients and families, as well as health care professionals. It is pertinent to understand that hospice care model is based on a model of comfort/caring and not curing. It has been reported that patients and families do not think about expressing their wishes and preference to end of life care and it has been challenging for health care professionals to redirect from the routinely practiced restorative approach.

This course will provide an overview of how hospice and palliative care fit in the current U.S. Healthcare system. Palliative and hospice care will be compared in terms of similarities and differences. Physiology, signs and symptomsof death will be discussed. Attendees will be provided information on team-based rehabilitation approach/practice patterns and models to managing all care needs to clients and their families receiving care from life threatening disease as well as end of life care.

Highlights

• Integration of hospice and Palliative care in the current US healthcare model
• Signs and symptoms of a patient approaching death
• The role of interdisciplinary rehab professionals in managing all care needs and maintaining safe and comfortable function in the presence of physical decline when working withclients receiving hospice care

Target Audience: Physical Therapists, Physical Therapist Assistants, Occupational Therapists, Occupational Therapy Assistants