Diana Cazier Shares:Patients Can Initiate Hospice Conversation

Diana Cazier

 

            For many who find themselves in need of hospice services the first contact they have is through their physician or the health care system.  A physician who understands the importance of Hospice as a treatment option would do well to present that as an option to their patients as well as the more aggressive treatments.  In speaking to individuals who had Hospice in their home to care for a loved one, common concerns expressed were, “I wish I had known earlier that I had an option” and “why didn’t my doctor tell me?”  The problem arises when the physician will continue to treat a condition that might have very little chance for full recovery and the patient will follow the physician without realizing that there may be alternatives. 

            Dr. Abe Tomco, a family practice physician in Orem, Utah, graduated from the St. Louis University School of Medicine in 2006.  As a recent graduate Dr. Tomco had many opportunities to learn about Hospice.  One of his instructors had recently gone through a hospice experience with her husband who died of cancer.  Her passion about the value of Hospice helped him to understand what it could do for his patients.  The St. Louis medical school curriculum focused on treating the whole patient; physically and emotionally.  It has only been in about the last ten years that medical schools have even taught much about Hospice.  His feeling is that many physicians do not know how to approach the more emotional issues such as death and Hospice, and find themselves relying on the clinical aspects of patient care.  He said, “doctors and patients both need to realize that turning to Hospice is not giving up on care, but sometimes getting the best care possible” (Tomco, 2011).

            This is where Hospice education for the general population would be advantageous.  Dr. Tomco said he thinks that if a patient were to first bring up the topic of Hospice that more doctors would talk about it.  How would the interaction with the physician be different if the patient had some information about Hospice before speaking with the physician?  We might want to think about this.